The International Space Station welcomed three new residents Wednesday after a smooth Russian launch. The Soyuz pill rocketed into orbit from Kazakhstan and, only three hours later on, pulled up within room station. American Frank Rubio inspected set for a six-month stay and Russians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. Rubio, a health care provider and previous Army parachutist from Miami, rode through to the Soyuz under a new team swap arrangement between your two nations.
The arrangement ended up being completed in July despite tensions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, an indication of continuing Russia-US collaboration in room. Under this cash-free barter, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina will travel SpaceX into the room station from Florida in under fourteen days. NASA and also the Russian Space Agency would you like to hold swapping seating similar to this assure a continuing United States and Russian existence within room station.
NASA astronauts consistently established on Russian Soyuz rockets — for tens of vast amounts apiece — until SpaceX begun traveling station teams from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2020. A Russian final established from Florida twenty years ago. SpaceX is designed to launch Kikina and one Japanese as well as 2 Americans since Oct. 3.
The new arrivals will change astronauts residing up truth be told there since planting season; the team dimensions at some point settle back once again to seven. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti stated the scene for the launch from room station ended up being “spectacular.” She tweeted spectacular photographs for the radiant limb for the Earth and also the rocket’s zigzagging white contrail.