Space travel
Three Americans and one Russian launched to the ISS
Three Americans and a Russian have set off for the International Space Station (ISS). photo
© John Raoux/AP/dpa
For the repeated time since the beginning of the Ukraine war and the resulting tensions between Russia and the USA, astronauts from both countries have launched into space together.
Three Americans and a Russian are at the International Space Station ISS broken up. The so-called “Crew-8” started on board a “Crew Dragon” owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX, as the US space agency Nasa announced.
This is the repeated time since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and the resulting immense tensions between the USA and Russia that astronauts from both countries flew into space together. The launch at the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida had previously been postponed twice due to weather.
Nasa astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, their colleague Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin are now expected at the ISS and are expected to conduct research there for around six months. This is the ninth manned space flight of a “Crew Dragon”. It is the first space flight for Epps, Grebenkin and Dominick; Barratt is visiting the ISS for the third time. There is currently a seven-person crew on board the space station.