A Russian represented vehicle carrying one American and two Russians has taken off from dedicated launch pad The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the onboard crew are heading for the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew consists of Oleg Novitsky,Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei
The Russian space agency expects the Soyuz 2.1a rocket to reach the orbit the International Space Station approximately three hours after lift-off.
a Japanese national alongside two Russians and Four Americans, are currently manning the ISS.
Three of them being relieved by the incoming crew will return to Earth in around 7 – 10 days’ time.
The Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying the three men has been named the Yuri Gagarin in honor of the Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human to reach space 60. Yuri was travelling on the Gagarin that orbited the earth on April 12 1961, this missions also departed from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Russian government have recently extended a space cooperation agreement with the United States until 2030, This is one of the few partnerships between Russian and the USA despite rocky political relationships.
The original agreement was signed in 1992 and has been extended an additional 4 times before the most recent 5th Agreement. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved and signed the extension on April 3 2021 laying the foundations for a range of space missions and research between Roskomos and NASA
The next planned mission to the ISS is a rocket owned by the private U.S. company SpaceX that is scheduled to set out late this month for the ISS from Florida.