A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) after blasting off on a Russian Soyuz rocket in a rare instance of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
The Russian space agency Roskosmos and NASA both broadcast the launch live from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 21.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin comprise the crew, who will spend six months on the ISS. They join three other Russian cosmonauts, three other U.S. astronauts, and one Italian currently on the orbiting space laboratory.
Amid War In Ukraine, U.S. Astronaut Joins Russian Cosmonauts In Launch To International Space Station
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Dennis Matveyev, and Sergei Korsakov are scheduled to leave the station next week after their six-month stay, NASA said.
The flight marked the first time a U.S. astronaut traveled to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz rocket since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
The United States and other Western countries have hit Moscow with unprecedented sanctions over the invasion, sinking Russia's relations with the West to new lows.
The ISS, a collaboration among the United States, Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency, and Russia, represents one of the last remaining areas of cooperation.
But the new head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos in July said Russia intended to quit the ISS after 2024 in favor of creating its own orbital station.
Speaking a few weeks ahead of the mission, Rubio called the cooperation between NASA and Roskosmos "good and strong" despite the heightened tensions between Moscow and the West.