2 major space exploration events today: lift-off of a new crew for the Int'l Space Station..

[Princess Turandot]

..at 6:30AM ET. Coverage begins at 5:30AM ET:


5:30 a.m. – Soyuz MS-11 launch coverage (launch at 6:31 a.m.)
11:45 a.m. – Docking coverage (docking scheduled for 12:35 p.m.)
1:45 p.m. – Hatch opening (expected at about 2:35 p.m.) and welcome coverage

-on NASA Youtube:

-on NASA Live: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive



Expedition 58 crew members Anne McClain of NASA (left), Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos (center) and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency

Then around noon, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft takes up orbit around the asteroid Bennu which it has been chasing since its 2016 launch. Its mission includes a collection of a sample to be returned to earth in 2023:

NASA will air a live event from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. EST to highlight the arrival of the agency’s first asteroid sample return mission. The program will originate from OSIRIS-REx’s mission control at the Lockheed Martin Space facility in Littleton, Colorado, and will air on NASA Television, Facebook Live, Ustream, YouTube and the agency's website. NASA TV also will air an arrival preview program starting at 11:15 a.m. EST.


Bennu, taken at 205 miles away by Osiris on 10-29-18

[Judi Lynn]

1. Outstanding post! Thank you, Princess Turandot. n/t

[Princess Turandot]

2. : )

I didn't see your ISS post until after this one, else I would only have posted about Osiris-Rex and Bennu!

I hope all goes well with the ISS launch. It's easy to forget - because success looks so easy - that it remains a very daring endeavor.