The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft MS-24 took place after Russia’s first moon mission failed last month
Kazakhstan:
Two Russians and an American rocketed toward the International Space Station on Friday amid raging tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara took off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft, which spewed a torrent of fire.
The crew was expected to dock with the ISS three hours later.
The launch took place after Russia’s first moon mission in nearly 50 years failed last month.
The orbital station is a rare site for cooperation between the US and Russia, whose ties were severed after Moscow unleashed its offensive in Ukraine last year.
Kononenko alluded to the tensions during a pre-flight press conference on Thursday, saying that “unlike on Earth” cosmonauts and astronauts cared for each other in space.
“We hear each other there, and we understand each other, and we are very sensitive to our relationships,” he said. “We always take care of each other.”
O’Hara praised the station’s “legacy” and said it had brought the countries together.
“I’m excited to get on board and see the crew members waiting for us,” she added.
Kononenko, 59, and Chub, 39, will spend a year on the ISS, while O’Hara, 40, will spend six months on board. It was the first mission to space for both O’Hara and Chub.
Chub said traveling to space was his “childhood dream” and that he had dedicated “his entire life” to achieving that goal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to strengthen space cooperation with China after severing ties with the West following the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine last year.
On Wednesday, Putin hosted North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un at Russia’s new spaceport in the Far East, and the two discussed the possibility of sending a North Korean into space.
Last month, Russia’s Luna-25 module crashed on the lunar surface after an incident during pre-landing maneuvers, causing a huge embarrassment to Moscow.
The Luna-25 mission was intended to mark Russia’s return to independent lunar exploration, despite financial problems and corruption scandals, and growing isolation from the West.
Moscow last landed a probe on the moon in 1976, before abandoning lunar exploration in favor of missions to Venus and the construction of the Mir space station.
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