--- ---  # Watch the Next Soyuz Launch Live Here  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Dec 15, 2015 10:30 AM UTC  The Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship set on 'Gagarinsky' launchpad of Baikonur space launch complex in Kazakhstan on Dec. 13, 2015. The Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship set on 'Gagarinsky' launchpad of Baikonur space launch complex in Kazakhstan on Dec. 13, 2015.Leonid Faerberg—Global Look/Corbis  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Dec 15, 2015 10:30 AM UTC The sturdiest little cosmic machine ever built is easily Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. The first one was launched in 1966—back when the Americans were flying the Gemini spacecraft—and they’ve been carrying human beings to space ever since. The next crew to take a Soyuz ride will be astronauts Tim Kopra, of NASA, and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency (ESA), along with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who will blast off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 6:03 AM (EST) on December 15\. TIME will carry the launch live here. [**_Watch Live:_** _Astronauts Return to Earth After a Year in Space_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-candidate-zena-stephens-office-shot-apparent-racial-attack-n528611) Kopra, Peake and Malenchenko are heading to the International Space Station for a six-month stay. They will join astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Mikhail Kornienko, who are already aboard. Kelly and Kornienko are more than halfway through their marathon year in space. TIME’s A Year in Space video series and other in-depth coverage of the mission [is available here](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/). Soyuz Launches to International Space Station ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4147792/soyuz-launch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4147792/soyuz-launch/"},"headline":"Watch the Next Soyuz Launch Live Here","datePublished":"2015-12-15T10:30:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:21:07.829Z","description":"Two astronauts and a cosmonaut are onboard","url":"https://time.com/4147792/soyuz-launch/","keywords":["A Year In Space","Space","NASA","Soyuz"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt523c299cd70680ae/698875430b72e321956e7412/soyuz-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt523c299cd70680ae/698875430b72e321956e7412/soyuz-space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"13 Dec 2015 --- Sunday, December, 13. The Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship set on 'Gagarinsky' launchpad of Baikonur space launch complex, Kazakhstan. Soyuz TMA-19M will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15, 2015. The mission will carry","caption":"13 Dec 2015 --- Sunday, December, 13. The Soyuz TMA-19M spaceship set on 'Gagarinsky' launchpad of Baikonur space launch complex, Kazakhstan. Soyuz TMA-19M will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 15, 2015. The mission will carry","creditText":"Leonid Faerberg—Global Look/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4147792/soyuz-launch/","name":"Watch the Next Soyuz Launch Live Here"}}]}] ```