Michael Scott Hopkins (born December 28, 1968) is a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and a current NASA astronaut. Hopkins was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20. He made his first spaceflight as a Flight Engineer on Soyuz TMA-10M/Expedition 37/Expedition 38, from September 2013 until March 2014. He was the first member of his astronaut class to fly in space. As well as being the first member of his class to fly in space, he is set to become the first member of his class to return to space in 2019 as Commander of the first operational SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station.
Soyuz TMA-10M begins expedition 37 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Oleg Kotov alongside Flight Engineers, Sergey Ryazansky (RSA) & Michael Hopkins (NASA) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on 11 March 2014 at 03:24 UTC
Low Earth OrbitThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.