Russia sends American and two cosmonauts to space station, with rare visit from NASA chief

Russia sent two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan, resuming crewed flights from a recently repaired launch pad, with a rare joint presence of the leaders of NASA and the Russian space agency.

American astronaut Anil Menon and cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft to the International Space Station, where they will spend about eight months as the 75th crew shift of the station.

The crew arrived at the space laboratory, the size of a football field, a little more than three hours later as the station orbited over the Mediterranean Sea. There they joined three Americans, two Europeans and two Russians already on the station, Reuters reports.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman traveled to Baikonur to meet with Roscosmos Director Dmitry Bakanov and watch the launch. It was the first visit by a NASA leader to the Russian launch center since 2018.

Tensions over Russia's war in Ukraine have largely prevented Bill Nelson, the former head of NASA in former President Joe Biden's administration, from making such visits.

The Expedition 75 mission was the first spaceflight for Menon, who is 49. Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, flew in a SpaceX capsule in 2024 with Menon's wife, SpaceX engineer Anna Menon, and two other people on the Polaris Dawn mission, a private spacewalk funded by Isaacman.

"Anil has been preparing for this moment his whole life," Isaacman wrote on the X network after the launch.

"He is a scientist, military officer, doctor, pilot, husband and father and will undoubtedly become one of America's great astronauts."

This is the second space flight for both Dubrov, who is 48, and Kikina, who is 41 and the only woman among the 23 active Russian cosmonauts.

Kikina was the first Russian woman to fly to the International Space Station in October 2022 aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, in a mission that renewed joint US-Russian astronaut flights.

Cooperation continues on the International Space Station

The 27-year-old collaboration between NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos on the International Space Station has survived despite years of tensions between the two countries, including Russia's war in Ukraine, primarily due to technical necessity.

American solar panels power the entire International Space Station, while Russian thrusters help keep it in orbit.

Both countries see the station as crucial to preserving their important human spaceflight programs, despite the increasing militarization of Earth orbit, which has become another point of conflict between Washington and Moscow, Reuters writes.

Air leaks on the aging station have put NASA and Roscosmos' relationship to the test, as the two agencies have at times disagreed on how to find and fix the source of the leak.

NASA last month ordered astronauts to prepare for a possible evacuation due to a dispute with Russia over how to fix one such air leak.

An astronaut on the station planned to use a saw to open access to a compartment believed to contain the source of the leak, which raised concerns among NASA officials.

The state of the space station, which is scheduled to be decommissioned shortly after 2030, was likely one of the topics of Isaacman's discussions with Russian space officials.

A video posted by Roscosmos on Telegram shows Isaacman speaking with Bakanov, in the presence of senior Roscosmos officials.

NASA and Roscosmos did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about the meeting.

Bakanov visited Florida last summer to witness a joint US-Russian launch of astronauts in a SpaceX capsule.

He met with then-acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy to discuss the International Space Station and cooperation on the Moon, but no agreements were reached or new projects launched after that meeting.

When Russia last launched a crewed mission from Launch Complex 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the rocket severely damaged the historic launch pad, putting Russia's only launch pad capable of manned flights out of commission for months of repairs.

Russia began using the launch pad again in March, launching an unmanned cargo mission to the International Space Station.