These Astronaut Photos of a Soyuz Launch from Space Are Just Incredible!
- by Amanda Heroux
- in Science
- — Déc 5, 2018
USA astronaut Anne McClain, centre, Russian cosmonaut Оleg Kononenko, bottom, and CSA astronaut David Saint Jacques, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, wave as they board the rocket prior to the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.
The previous launch - involving NASA's Nick Hague and Russia's Aleksey Ovchinin - had to be aborted after the first stage of the rocket failed to separate as planned.
The launch will be a test for Russia's space industry, which has suffered several high-profile crashes in recent years but remains the only reliable way to deliver crew members to the orbiting station.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted his thanks to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Rogozin and to NASA and Roscosmos teams "for their dedication to making this launch a success".
The trio aboard the rocket will be on the International Space Station for six and a half months before heading back to Earth.
The launch was the first for the Soviet-era Soyuz since October 11, when a rocket carrying Russia's Aleksey Ovchinin and USA astronaut Nick Hague failed just minutes after blast-off, forcing the pair to make an emergency landing.
McClain, Saint-Jacques, and Konenenko will join Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Expedition 57 Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, who will train the new crew until their departure on December 20.
The incident became the first failure of a manned space launch in modern Russian history.
The Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS since the USA retired the space shuttle in 2011.
Since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, Russian Soyuz rockets have been the only way to get people to the International Space Station.
NASA and Roscosmos said all onboard systems were operating normally and the crew was feeling fine.
Since the October mishap, four successful unmanned Soyuz satellite launches have been conducted to clear the path for the crew's launch on Monday.
This is the first spaceflight for both McClain and Saint-Jacques and the fourth trip to the space station for Kononenko.
Russia-US cooperation in space has remained one of the few areas not affected by a crisis in ties between the former Cold War enemies.
