Rocket with two Russian cosmonauts, NASA astronaut launches toward International Space Station

Two cosmonauts from Russia and an American astronaut, on Friday (September 15), rocketed toward the International Space Station, marking the first time Moscow launched astronauts to an orbiting outpost in almost a year.

The launch also came amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine war.

Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 11:44 am ET, with Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara on board.

As per reports, the crew was expected to dock at the ISS three hours later.

Kononenko, while hinting at the tensions between Washington and Moscow during a pre-flight press conference that took place on Thursday (September 14), said that "unlike on earth" cosmonauts and astronauts took care of each other in space.

"We hear each other there, and we understand each other, and we are very sensitive to our relationships," he said. "We always take care of each other."

O'Hara applauded the station's "legacy" and said it had been bringing the countries together.

"I'm excited to get on board and see the crewmates who are waiting for us," she added.

Kononenko, 59, and Chub, 39, are scheduled to spend a year on the ISS, while O'Hara, 40, is to spend six months aboard. It was the first mission to space for both O'Hara and Chub.

Chub said that travelling to space was his "childhood dream" and he had dedicated "all his life" to reaching that goal.

Russia’s Luna-25 crashes into moon

The liftoff took place after Russia's first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed last month.

Russia's Luna-25 probe crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit. Roscosmos said that there had been an "abnormal situation" during a manoeuvre earlier.

Preliminary investigations showed that the lander "has ceased to exist following a collision with the Moon's surface". The scientists at the agency then started a probe to determine the cause of the crash.

"During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the manoeuvre to be performed with the specified parameters," Roscosmos wrote in an update on Telegram.

(With inputs from agencies)

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