NASA astronauts Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin launched to the International Space Station aboard their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft at 4:35 p.m. CDT Tuesday (3:35 a.m. Wednesday local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Wheelock, Walker and Soyuz commander Yurchikhin are scheduled to dock with their new home at 5:25 p.m. Thursday, June 17. They will join Expedition 24 crewmates Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a NASA astronaut, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov, the station commander, and Mikhail Kornienko aboard the orbiting laboratory.

On Thursday, coverage of the Soyuz docking will begin on NASA Television at 5 p.m. NASA TV will return at 9 p.m. for coverage of the hatches opening and the welcoming ceremony aboard the station. For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv