A crew of USA and Russia successfully took off on Tuesday on a mission towards International Space Station.
The astronaut POT Anil Menon and his Russian companions Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina took off from the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft for an eight-month stay at the space base. Their ship entered the designated orbit and was scheduled to dock at the station three hours after launch.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacmanwas present at takeoff Tuesday, a sign of cooperation in orbit between Moscow and Washington despite tensions over Russia’s military action in Ukraine.
Before the launch, Isaacman met with Dmitry Bakanov, head of Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency. During Monday’s meeting with the crew, Isaacman thanked Roscosmos for its efforts in preparing the mission, noting thate “the integrated work carried out over the last few months reflects the professionalism and dedication of all those involved”.
It is Menon’s first space flight and the second for Dubrov and Kikina.
The trio will join NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams; European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrei Fedyaev.
Russia and the United States, once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, now cooperate on the space station and other projects. And despite tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Washington and Moscow continue to work together, and astronauts from both travel on each country’s spaceships.
Plans for broader cooperation, including possible Russian participation in NASA’s Artemis program for lunar research, have collapsed. As Russia has become increasingly dependent on China for its energy exports and for the import of key technology amid Western sanctions, Roscosmos has initiated cooperation with China on its possible lunar mission.