After 4 days of launch delay, Russian spacecraft docks with International Space Station

“Soyuz MS-25 has docked with the International Space Station,” Roscosmos said.

Moscow:

Russia’s Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station on Monday, Roscosmos said, four days after its launch was delayed due to technical problems.

On board were Belarus’s first female cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya, experienced Russian cosmonaut Oleg Nowitsky and American astronaut Tracy Dyson, who launched into space on Saturday for a two-day mission. day journey.

“Soyuz MS-25 has docked with the International Space Station,” Roscosmos said.

Nowitzki and Vasilevskaya will spend 14 days in orbit and return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with American astronaut Lola O’Hara, while Dyson will spend his time in space. 184 days passed.

The MS-25’s takeoff was aborted seconds before launch on Thursday, raising further questions about the reliability of Russia’s troubled space program.

Moscow, once a space pioneer, has faced multiple setbacks since the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the loss of two Mars missions and its first lunar probe in nearly 50 years last August.

Space is one of the last areas of U.S.-Russian cooperation amid an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the past two years.

For nearly a decade, Russian Soyuz launches were the only way to transport astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station after NASA halted its space shuttle program.

But the United States has now turned to privately manufactured SpaceX rockets and capsules, ending Russia’s monopoly on manned launches.

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