Russian astronauts go into space on American rockets... for the first time in 20 years

SpaceX manned capsule carrying Russian astronauts launches to space station

Implementation of the space agreement program despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Russian astronaut Anna Kikina aboard the US SpaceX spacecraft

[UPI=연합뉴스. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

(Los Angeles = Yonhap News) Correspondent Yoon-seop Jeong = A Russian astronaut headed for space on the 5th (local time) aboard a rocket launched from American soil.

Elon Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX, launched a Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon capsule aboard Russian astronaut Anna Kikina from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the same day.

It is the first time Russian astronauts have boarded a US spacecraft in 20 years since NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 2002.

A Russian astronaut made an unusual flight aboard an American spacecraft despite heightened tensions between the United States and Russia due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kikina’s boarding of the SpaceX spacecraft is in accordance with the spacecraft seat exchange agreement signed by NASA and the Russian Federation Space Agency (Roscosmos) in July.

SpaceX's 'Crew-5' mission rocket launch scene — **SpaceX’s ‘Crew-5’ mission rocket launch scene**

[UPI 연합뉴스. 재판매 및 DB 금지]

The two countries signed the first agreement to send their own astronauts to the ISS using each other’s spacecraft to secure an alternative means of transportation in case of an ISS emergency.

This agreement has a symbolic meaning that the two countries did not completely lose the cord of space cooperation even in the Ukraine war.

Earlier, U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio went to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan last month under the agreement.

This time, Russian astronaut Kikina boarded the SpaceX manned capsule along with three astronauts from NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

SpaceX’s launch this time was carried out in accordance with the ‘Crew-5’ mission, which transports astronauts to the ISS.

Astronauts arrive at the ISS after a 29-hour flight, stay in space for 150 days, and perform various scientific missions.

[email protected]