Crew Dragon spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut set off for the ISS

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle with the Crew Dragon manned spacecraft was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral (Florida). This is reported by NASA on Twitter.

The launch took place at 00.34 ET (8.34 Moscow time). Ten minutes after launch, Crew Dragon successfully separated from the Falcon 9 rocket. Docking with the ISS is scheduled for March 3, NASA said.

On board are Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, and UAE astronaut Sultan Al-Neyadi. The flight was supposed to take place on February 27, but it canceled two minutes before the start. Later, NASA explained that this decision was made due to a clogged filter on the ground-based igniter fluid supply system intended for the rocket engine.

In July 2022 Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on joint cross-flights to the ISS, according to which the countries will carry out two missions. The first one took place last fall.

In September, the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-22 was launched to the ISS, carrying the Russians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio. In October, Roscosmos female cosmonaut Anna Kikina arrived at the station on the Crew Dragon-5 spacecraft. After the Crew-6 mission in the second half of 2023, NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara will go to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-24.

On the eve, March 1, at Roskosmos reportedthat cross flights will continue in 2023-2024. Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov will fly to the ISS on Crew Dragon-7 in the second half of this year. Also in the first half of 2024, the Crew-8 mission is planned, the crew of which is Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.