Baikonur (Kazakhstan) | AFP
A Soyuz rocket with two Russian astronauts and an American on board arrived at the ISS (International Space Station) this Friday (15), an unusual symbol of cooperation at a particularly tense time between Russia and the United States.
The rocket took off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at the scheduled time (12:44 p.m. Brazilian time) and reached the ISS three hours later, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
The launch came less than a month after the loss of the Russian lunar probe Luna25, which crashed into Earth’s natural satellite. The failure highlighted the Russian space sector’s years of difficulties due to a lack of funding and multiple corruption scandals.
The Soyuz rocket carried Russians Oleg Kononenko (59) and Nikolai Chub (39) as well as NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara (40) to the ISS. She and Chub flew into space for the first time.
“It’s a very special moment and I have a great feeling that I’m part of something that goes beyond us and has brought so many people together. I am happy about this mission,” O’Hara said at a Baikonur press conference on Thursday.
“The environment is good and the crew is ready to fulfill all the tasks assigned to them,” commented Nikolai Chub.
The three will replace Russians Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and American Frank Rubio, who joined the ISS a year ago.
Due to damage to the returning ship, the Soyuz MS22, the mission was extended. In December 2022, a major leak occurred while docking with the ISS. According to Moscow, the incident was caused by the impact of a micrometeorite.
The space sector is one of the few where there is cooperation between Russia and the United States, in an environment that is very tense due to the conflict in Ukraine. That’s why O’Hara stated during the press conference that the ISS is “a symbol of peace and cooperation.”
“Unlike what happens on land, where countries often don’t get along, up there we get along very well and are very sensitive in our relationships. We care about each other,” Kononenko reiterated.