Livestream: U of I grad heading to the International Space Station at 3:58 p.m.

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Space!

University of Illinois graduate Mike Hopkins is set to launch for the International Space Station Wednesday afternoon at 3:58 p.m. CST. He will join four other astronauts aboard a Soyuz spacecraft as part of Expedition 37 lifting off from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is his first mission to space.

According to a NASA press release, Expedition 37 will conduct “new investigations [that] will focus on human health and human physiology.”

Hopkins graduated from U of I in 1991 with a degree in aerospace engineering before earning his masters from Stanford University. Hopkins was also captain of the Fighting Illini football team.