Soyuz spacecraft carrying Japanese tourists launching to space station on Dec 8

The Soyuz spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will join spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano will from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and return to Earth on Sunday, December 19, with the landing targeted for 10:18 p.m.

A Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, carrying a veteran Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private citizens, will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, December 8, at 2:38 a.m. EST.

The Soyuz spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will join spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano will from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and return to Earth on Sunday, December 19, with the landing targeted for 10:18 p.m.

Maezawa and Mirano are making their trek into space under a contract between Space Adventures and Roscosmos.

The trio of space travellers will spend approximately 12 days on the orbital laboratory, joining Expedition 66 Commander Anton Shkaplerov and cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos (Russian space agency), as well as NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer.

Экипажи 20-й экспедиции посещения МКС провели контрольный осмотр корабля #СоюзМС20 🧑‍🚀 После вводного инструктажа космонавты и участники космического полета ознакомились с составом, размещением грузов и снаряжения в спускаемом аппарате и в бытовом отсеке: https://t.co/rYsqg2O0KF pic.twitter.com/tfQITZ83Dg

— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) December 2, 2021

Live coverage of key events, including launch, docking, and return activities, will air on NASA TV, the NASA app and the agency's official website.