Watch this billionaire's private expedition to the ISS, live from NASA

NASA will be live-streaming the launch of two Japanese private citizens accompanied by a veteran Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 8th, 2021.

A Soyuz MS-20 will carry the Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and private citizens Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, launching at 12:38 p.m. local time (07:38 UTC). Maezawa is a billionaire entrepreneur joined by his production assistant Hirano, both going for an eleven-day visit to the ISS.

The flight will take six hours, with NASA's covering the launch and the docking sequence. On NASA TV, launch coverage begins at 2 a.m. EST, docking coverage at 8 a.m. EST, and hatch opening and welcoming remarks at 10:15 a.m. EST.

When the stay concludes on Sunday, December 19th, NASA will be live-streaming the hatch closing beginning at 3 p.m. EST, undocking at 6:30 p.m. EST and deorbiting and landing at 9 p.m. EST. Landing is scheduled for 10:18 p.m.

The flight will be Misurkin's third flight into space, and Maezawa and Hirano's first, who are making the flight as part of a contract between Space Adventures and Roscosmos. You can view the livestream of the events on NASA's website, and Maezawa will also have his own coverage on his YouTube channel.

Roscosmos will also be livestreaming the event, which you can view on its YouTube channel.