SpaceX capsule heads for space station with Nasa crew and Russian
- Anna Kikina is the first cosmonaut to ride a US spacecraft to orbit in 20 years, in a show of cooperation with Russia despite Ukraine war tensions
- The team is led by combat pilot Nicole Aunapu Mann, the first indigenous woman being sent to orbit by Nasa and the first woman commander a SpaceX Crew Dragon
A SpaceX rocket soared into orbit from Florida on Wednesday carrying the next long-term International Space Station crew, with a Russian cosmonaut, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut flying together in a demonstration of US-Russian teamwork in space despite Ukraine war tensions.
The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Endurance, lifted off into clear skies at noon from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral.
The two-stage, 23-story-tall Falcon 9 ascended from the launch tower as its nine Merlin engines roared to life in billowing clouds of vapour and a reddish-orange fireball.
The mission is notable for the inclusion of Anna Kikina, 38, the lone female cosmonaut on active duty with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, making a rare flight aboard a US spacecraft even as antagonism between Moscow and Washington has deepened over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The last cosmonaut to ride a US vessel to orbit was in 2002 on a Nasa space shuttle.
As the spacecraft entered Earth orbit, Kikina radioed her thanks to Nasa, Roscosmos and their International Space Station (ISS) partners for “giving us this great opportunity. We’re so glad to do it together.”