Soyuz MS-06 fixin' to blast off this afternoon!

Soyuz MS-06 crew: Joe Acaba, Alexander Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei

This afternoon about 5:17pm EDT, the next crew of the International Space Station will blast off aboard Soyuz MS-06 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and dock with the ISS approximately 6 hours later.  The crew consists of Lt. Col. Mark Vande Hei (Falls Church, VA; first flight), Joseph Acaba (first Puerto Rican astronaut; third flight) and cosmonaut/commander Alexander Misurkin (Yershichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russia; second flight)

They will join Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli and Sergey Ryanzanski already on the ISS since July 28.  The new crew will continue experiments in biology, physical science and Earth science.

What?  No chemistry?

Just 10 days ago, Peggy Whitson, Jack Fisher and Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Earth from the ISS, splatting down near Dzhezkagan in Kazakhstan.