2023-09-16 07:45:58
Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut arrived on the ISS to take over from another American-Russian trio.
Veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and his comrade Nikolai Tchoub, as well as NASA astronaut Loral O’HaraLeur, left the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as planned at 3:44 p.m. GMT, in the middle of the night, aboard the Soyuz rocket. MS-24.
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The crew arrived at the ISS three hours later, the Russian space agency announced in a statement.
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 faced for years, between lack of financing and corruption scandals.
“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“, declared Ms. O’Hara, 40 years old, for whom this is her first flight in space, Thursday during a press conference in Baikonur.
“The atmosphere is good, the crew is ready to complete all the tasks assigned to them“, said Nikolai Tchoub, aged 39, who is also making his first flight. He added that traveling into space was “a childhood dream” to which he devoted “his whole life”.
The three astronauts will 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 extendeddue to the damage to their return ship, the Soyuz MS-22which 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 rare areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States remains, 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, aged 59.
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