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The Worldwide Area Stations stays a venue for cooperation between the US and Russia amid rigidity over Ukraine.
Two Russian cosmonauts and an astronaut from america have docked with the International Space Station (ISS) after blasting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan amid raging tensions between Moscow and Washington over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s Roscosmos house company mentioned cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and US NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara lifted off on Friday onboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.
The crew docked on the ISS three hours later, at 18:53 GMT, the Russian house company mentioned.
Liftoff! @LunarLoral of @NASA_Astronauts and two cosmonaut crewmates are on their technique to the @Space_Station. They’ll dock about three hours from now. pic.twitter.com/4JTtfcgQZC
— NASA (@NASA) September 15, 2023
On the orbiting station, the trio will be a part of the crew of three Russians, two People and one Japanese, together with a consultant of the European Area Company.
The ISS stays a uncommon venue for cooperation between the US and Russia, whose ties broke down after Moscow unleashed its offensive in Ukraine final yr.
Russia’s Kononenko alluded to the strained geopolitical tensions throughout a pre-flight press convention on Thursday, saying that “in contrast to on earth” cosmonauts and astronauts took care of one another in house.
“We hear one another there, and we perceive one another, and we’re very delicate to {our relationships},” he mentioned. “We at all times deal with one another.”
The US’s O’Hara praised the station’s “legacy” and mentioned it had been bringing the nations collectively.
The Soyuz spacecraft hatch opened at 5:16pm ET right this moment increasing the house station’s inhabitants to 10 lower than six hours after the crew ship launched from Kazakhstan. https://t.co/nIVdAprSJF
— Worldwide Area Station (@Space_Station) September 15, 2023
“The arrival of three new crew members to the prevailing seven individuals already on board for Expedition 69 briefly will increase the station’s inhabitants to 10,” NASA mentioned after the Soyuz docked with the ISS.
Kononenko, 59, and Chub, 39, are scheduled to spend a yr on the ISS, whereas O’Hara, 40, is to spend six months on board. It was the primary mission to house for O’Hara and Chub.
Mission commander Kononenko is on his fifth journey to the orbiting house station.
By the tip of his yearlong keep, Kononenko will set a brand new document for the longest time in house, greater than a thousand days.
Chub mentioned that travelling to house was his “childhood dream” and he had devoted “all his life” to reaching that purpose.
Friday’s launch was the primary by Russia since final month’s lack of Russia’s Luna-25 module, which crashed on the Moon’s floor after an incident throughout pre-landing manoeuvres, in an enormous embarrassment for Moscow.
The Luna-25 mission was meant to mark Russia’s return to unbiased Moon exploration within the face of economic troubles and corruption scandals, and its rising isolation from the West amid its warfare on Ukraine.
Moscow final landed a probe on the Moon in 1976, earlier than shifting away from lunar exploration in favour of missions to Venus and constructing the Mir house station.
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