NASA astronaut, Russian cosmonauts blast off into space

New York
CNN Business
–

A Russian capsule has carried an American cosmonaut into space today, marking a remarkable continuation of the Russian-American partnership in space in an era Great geopolitical tension.

The spacecraft took off from the famous Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying a NASA astronaut. Dr. Frank Rubio And two Russian cosmonauts – Dmitry Petlin and Sergey Prokopyev – About what is expected to be a six-month stay on the International Space Station. Liftoff occurred at 9:54 a.m. ET. A few hours later, just after 1 p.m. ET, the Soyuz capsule docked with the International Space Station, allowing the astronauts to board the space station.

This is the first flight into space for Rubio, who will serve as an aeronautical engineer on this mission. A trained family doctor, who also has experience as a flight surgeon – which means he has the pieces to take care of any medical issues that may arise during their flight.

A native of Florida, Rubio joined NASA in 2017. Prior to being accepted into the Astronaut Corps, he graduated from the United States Military Academy and received his M.D. from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has more than 600 hours of combat experience in countries such as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Rubio is considered his birthplace of Miami, according to NASA, although he was born in California and his mother lives in El Salvador.

When Rubio and his Russian counterparts arrive at the space station, they will be teaming up with astronauts from the United States, Russia and Europe. The space station, which has had people on board continuously since 2000, maintains a rotating crew base to ensure that the orbiting laboratory is constantly staffed with enough astronauts to maintain the space station’s hardware as well as maintain a long record of space-based experiments.

The fact that Rubio travels to space aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule is noteworthy.

The history of transporting humans to and from the International Space Station began with Russia and the United States each having their own rockets to transport their citizens to and from the International Space Station, which became a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation in the late 20th century and early 2000s. But after 2011, when NASA retired from the space shuttle program, Russian Soyuz capsules were the only option for American astronauts. NASA is paying up to $90 million for seats on the Soyuz spacecraft.

In 2020, that changed. NASA had, years ago, She prepared her own plan To allow privatized companies to take on the task of transporting astronauts to and from the space station. And Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been doing so ever since, starting with Demo-2 mission in 2020 And most recently, preparation for the Crew-5 mission. SpaceX launches have become routine for NASA, allowing it to regain some control over how it staffs the International Space Station.

However, the tension between the United States and Russia reached a fever pitch after that Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

But after years of sharing flights on Russian Soyuz vehicles before SpaceX came onto the scene, one of the big questions that emerged was whether the United States and Russia would continue to put astronauts side by side on International Space Station missions.

This was answered in July when NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, Confirmed that seat sharing On rocket flights to the space station. Russian cosmonauts are now expected to fly aboard the SpaceX capsules, as well as NASA astronauts sharing their seats aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The United States and Russia are the primary operators of the International Space Station, with both countries controlling its daily operations. Importantly, the Russian-controlled portion houses the thrust needed to keep the International Space Station afloat in Earth’s orbit. And NASA has said repeatedly One of its goals is to ensure continued cooperation between the United States and Russia in space.

Rubio, as had many American astronauts before him, flew to Russia to train with Russian cosmonauts prior to this mission.

“It was an honor to be here,” CNN’s Kristen Fisher said during August press conference. “We have a very strong NASA team that is here to support the mission…I think every one of us would say we feel safe.”