Russian-American crew launches to ISS

Russia launched two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) from Kazakhstan today, 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 in Kazakhstan aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft at 16:47 Central European Time, to the International Space Station, where they will spend about eight months as the 75th crew shift of the station.

The crew and their Soyuz spacecraft entered orbit about ten minutes later, beginning a roughly three-hour journey to the space laboratory the size of a football field. Docking with the station is scheduled for 19:56 Central European Time.

The mission was accompanied by Roscosmos Director Dmitry Bakanov and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, the first NASA leader to visit the Russian cosmodrome since 2018. Tensions over Russia's war with Ukraine have largely prevented Bill Nelson, who led NASA during President Joseph Biden's term, from participating in such talks.