A Russian cosmonaut took off on Wednesday for the International Space Station from the United States, aboard a rocket from the American company SpaceX, a mission that is particularly symbolic in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
Anna Kikina, the only female Russian cosmonaut currently on active duty, is part of the Crew-5 crew, also made up of a Japanese and two Americans, including Nicole Mann, who became the first Native American to go into space .
Liftoff took place Wednesday noon from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This is the fifth regular mission to the Space Station (ISS) carried out by SpaceX on behalf of NASA. Two weeks ago, an American took off for the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.
Program maintained
This long-planned astronaut exchange program has been maintained despite the very high tensions between the two countries since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Ensuring the operation of the ISS has thus become one of the very few subjects of cooperation between the United States and Russia.
Sergei Krikaliov, the director of manned flights for the Russian space agency Roscosmos, was present on site in Florida for what seemed to be akin to a charm offensive, after thunderous remarks from his superiors in recent months.
New phase of cooperation
During a press conference following takeoff, he hailed these joint flights as “a new phase of cooperation”, mentioning in particular an American-Russian space flight in 1975, then a symbol of detente during the Cold War. Transporting the citizen of another nation is “a huge responsibility”, said Kathy Lueders, associate administrator at NASA, during a press conference at the end of September.
Asked about the current relationship with Roscomos, she said: “Operationally, we have really appreciated the consistency of the relationship, even during a very difficult geopolitical period.”
5th Russian woman in space
Anna Kikina, 38 and an engineer by training, becomes the fifth Russian female professional cosmonaut to go into space. “I hope that in the near future we will have more women in the cosmonaut corps,” she told AFP in August.
It is also the first spaceflight of American astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, but the fifth for Japanese Koichi Wakata. After a journey of about 30 hours, their ship will dock at the station on Thursday, at an altitude of about 400 km. Members of Crew-5 will join the seven people already on board (two Russians, four Americans and one Italian).
Threatening remarks
Tensions between Moscow and Washington have increased considerably in the space field after the announcement of American sanctions against the Russian aerospace industry, in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The previous head of the Russian space agency had thus made threatening remarks about a possible crash of the ISS if the Russians could no longer participate. Then this summer, his successor said that Russia would leave the ISS “after 2024”, in favor of creating its own orbital station – without setting a specific date for a withdrawal.
Future of the ISS
“We will continue to fly (with) the International Space Station as long as our new infrastructure is under construction,” Sergei Krikaliov of Roscosmos said on Wednesday. But this construction has not yet started, and according to experts, should take many years.
Sergei Krikaliov had already said on Monday “hope” that his government agrees to extend participation in the ISS after 2024. The Americans have announced that they want to continue to operate the station until 2030.
afp/br