Launch their Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled for 2:42 pm CDT Friday, March 27. Media should pick up credentials by 12:30 p.m. Friday, and must be escorted and in place before NASA TV launch coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. Accredited media wishing must ensure seating to watch the final hour of the countdown by calling the JSC Newsroom at 281-483-5111 before 4 p.m. Thursday, March 26.

Offering one of Mission Control’s actual flight control rooms provides a rare opportunity to observe the launch, taking place half a world away at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazhakhstan. Seated in the Blue Flight Control Room, media may watch the countdown and launch from the same seats occupied by flight controllers during early station assembly, and more recently last December’s first test flight of the Orion spacecraft.

Meanwhile, Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for Johnson Space Center, invites space buffs, NASA employees and media to watch the launch live on the largest giant screen in Texas. Space Center Houston’s mission briefing officers will provide background on the launch and one-year crew. Discount tickets are available on-line. 

Kelly and Kornienko are leaving Earth on a one-year mission to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Obtaining data to determine ways to further reduce the risks during future long-duration missions to an asteroid and eventually Mars. The crew will support several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science – research that impacts life on Earth. Data and samples will be collected throughout the year from a series of studies involving Scott and his twin brother, former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly. The studies will compare data from the genetically-identical brothers to identify any subtle changes caused by spaceflight.

Joining Kelly and Kornienko will be Gennady Padalka, who will spend six months aboard the outpost. During that time he will become the first four-time station commander and world record holder for most cumulative time ever spent in space.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station 

For more information about the One-Year Crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oneyear

For more information about NASA Television, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

For more information about Space Center Houston, visit: http://spacecenter.org