The SpaceX Crew-7 mission launched from Florida on Saturday morning, hosting one of the most internationally diverse astronaut crews to date, with members from the US, Japan, Russia and Denmark.
CNN
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Four astronauts — representing four nations and space agencies across the globe — launched aboard a SpaceX rocket toward the International Space Station, kicking off a mission expected to last more than six months.
The crew is riding aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance capsule on the mission, dubbed Crew-7. The spacecraft launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:27 a.m. ET Saturday.
The four astronauts on the mission include NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli, who is serving as mission commander; Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen representing the European Space Agency; Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA; and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos.
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archive link: https://archive.ph/iam7z
Borisov should’ve been removed from this launch.
I hear you. It appears that agreements are in place for Russian participation on the ISS to at least 2028. There’s an article from yesterday on the latest developments in that relationship. Kind of explains why that’s probably for the best option for right now.
Aug 25 (Reuters) - Russian and U.S. space authorities have agreed an additional flight for an American astronaut on board Russia’s Soyuz MS spacecraft, Interfax news agency said on Friday, in a rare sign of bilateral cooperation at a time of high tension over Ukraine.
The flight is part of an agreement between Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and NASA in the United States on cross-flights to the International Space Station (ISS).
“One of the Americans has been essentially left (on board the ISS) for two missions. We have added another flight to compensate for the time spent at the station,” Sergei Krikalev, executive director of the state corporation for manned programmes, told Interfax.
“This is a mutually beneficial business, we interact with each other and look for the best option. In principle, a good story - the exchange of flights - adds a little reliability to our programme,” he said.
Washington and Moscow have maintained cooperation in space despite relations hitting their lowest in decades over the Ukraine conflict, with astronauts stationed together at the ISS, and also ferried back and forth jointly.
Under an agreement signed last year as part of the ISS programme on cross flights, three Russian cosmonauts were to fly on the United States’ Crew Dragon spacecraft and three U.S. astronauts on Russia’s Soyuz MS during 2022-2024.original link: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/russia-us-agree-additional-us-astronaut-flight-iss-interfax-2023-08-25/
archive link: https://archive.ph/uUsKuEven at the worst points in US/Russian relations, a little cooperation in space program efforts has often been a lifeline and a means of reestablishing norms as the most damaging periods in geo-politics are overcome and moved past.
