Technology

2023-09-15 16:24:15

Russia launched a Soyuz rocket towards the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday with two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut on board, a rare symbol of cooperation in a period of tension.

The rocket took off on time at 3:44 p.m. GMT into a dark night sky from the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

This launch comes less than a month following the loss of the Russian lunar probe Luna-25, which crashed on the Moon in August, a failure which recalled the difficulties that the Russian space sector has been facing for years, between lack of funding and corruption scandals.

The Soyuz spacecraft is to bring aboard the ISS experienced Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and his comrade Nikolai Tchoub, as well as NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara, who, like Mr. Tchoub, is the first flight into space.

“It’s a very special moment and a very pleasant feeling to be part of something that is bigger than us and which has brought together so many people. I am excited regarding this mission,” O’Hara said Thursday at a news conference in Baikonur. “The atmosphere is good, the crew is ready to accomplish all the tasks entrusted to them,” said Nikolai Tchoub.

The three astronauts will arrive aboard the orbital laboratory to take over from the Russians Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitri Peteline and the American Frank Rubio, who arrived aboard the ISS a year ago.

Their mission had been extended due to the damage to their return ship, the Soyuz MS-22, which suffered a spectacular leak in December 2022 while docked with the ISS, due according to Moscow to the impact of a micrometeorite.

The Russian space agency therefore decided that it might only be used in an emergency, and chose to send the MS-23 spacecraft as a replacement.

The space sector is one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between Russia and the United States, in a context of high tensions due to the conflict in Ukraine.

The American Loral O’Hara said Thursday that the ISS was “a symbol of peace and cooperation”. “Unlike what happens on earth (…) where nations often do not get along, we get along well up there, we understand each other and we are very sensitive to our relationships. We always look out for each other,” added Mr. Kononenko.

Russia launched a Soyuz rocket towards the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday with two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut on board, a rare symbol of cooperation in a period of tension. The rocket took off on time at 3:44 p.m. GMT in a dark night sky from the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This launch comes…

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