Russia launches cosmonauts in sign of commitment to space station

At 11:55 a.m. Eastern time, the three Russians, Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Just after orbiting the Earth 2 times, it caught up to the house station and docked efficiently soon immediately after 3 p.m. Jap time.

“Everything is good on board, and the team is accomplishing terrific,” a Russian ground controller mentioned on NASA tv via an interpreter soon just after liftoff.

The launch comes as tensions continue to mount involving the United States and Russia above Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The United States has imposed significant sanctions on Russia, and President Biden has labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war prison.” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian area agency, has mentioned that for the reason that Russia is dependable for boosting the station, it could force it to arrive crashing down and has threatened to take into account dissolving the partnership.

NASA leaders have constantly claimed that the United States remains dedicated to the partnership and that house stays an location wherever the two international locations can cooperate.

Russian’s bloody invasion of Ukraine “hasn’t thrown it into query at all,” NASA Administrator Monthly bill Nelson reported on CNBC Friday. “The cosmonauts and the astronauts are getting together as standard.”

He said the Soyuz launch Friday demonstrates “that the Russians are however fully commited to the Global House Station.”

On March 30, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who has set the longest single spaceflight file for an American, is scheduled to fly again to Earth on a Russian spacecraft together with two cosmonauts.