New Station Crew Set For Launch Tonight In Kazakhstan

A new crew that includes one of the world's only twin astronauts is slated to blast off tonight on an expedition to the International Space Station.

U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly will be flying aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kalery and Oleg Skripochka. Kelly's twin brother, Mark, will join them in February when he and five crewmates arrive at the station on what now is the last scheduled U.S. shuttle mission.

Live NASA TV coverage of the launch will begin here in The Flame Trench at 6:15 p.m. Click the NASA TV box on the right to launch our NASA TV viewer. Liftoff from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is set for 7:10 p.m.

Click out the story our Michelle Spitzer wrote about the Kelly twins HERE .

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the Associated Press photo of the next crew of the International Space Station at a pre-launch news conference at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew includes (left to right) U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kalery and Oleg Skripochka. Photo credit: AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky.