A Soyuz spacecraft carrying an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts lifted off Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan en route to the International Space Station.The MS-27 craft, embellished to mark the 80th anniversary of completion of World War II, went for 10:47 a.m.
local time, according to video footage broadcast by Russias Roscosmos space agency.The spacecraft went into orbit shortly after launch and is arranged to dock with the Russian section of the ISS later on in the day.Onboard are Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, in addition to NASA astronaut Jonny Kim.
Roscosmos said the crew will conduct 50 scientific experiments before going back to Earth on Dec.
9.
Roscosmos stated about 2,500 tourists watched the launch personally a record for the site.Russia has actually leased the Baikonur launch center from Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union, paying $115 million yearly under an agreement that runs through 2050.
Area remains one of the few areas of United States -Russia cooperation in the middle of strained ties considering that Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Nevertheless, the return of United States President Donald Trump has prompted what observers describe as a tentative thaw.Western nations severed most collaborations with Roscosmos following the invasion, but the Soyuz remains among the couple of viable choices for reaching the ISS.Russias area program when a source of nationwide pride has suffered in the last few years from underfunding, corruption scandals and technical failures, including the crash of the Luna-25 lunar probe in August 2023.