Russia launches the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft with three crew members on board heading to the Space Station

Moscow.- Russia launched the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft this Tuesday with three crew members on board, two Russian cosmonauts and one American, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

The launch took place at the scheduled time, 14:48 GMT, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the Kazakh steppe. The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket was in charge of propelling the manned spacecraft and will be the one to put it into orbit eight minutes later.

The spacecraft will reach its destination via the fast track, in just three hours -docking will take place at 17:56 GMT-, according to the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

Traveling on the Soyuz MS-29 are Russians Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, and American astronaut Anil Menon, who will remain on the orbital platform for 261 days as part of the 75th expedition.

Precisely, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman witnessed the launch today at the invitation of Roscosmos for the first time in eight years.

We recommend reading:Three dead in the Moscow region and one in Belgorod after a Ukrainian drone attack

“Thank you for finding the time to support the joint team (…) Let’s wish them luck,” said Dmitri Bakanov, director of the Russian agency.

Kikina, 41, is the fifth Russian woman to fly into space, although she already traveled to the ISS in 2022 as a member of the American SpaceX Crew-5 mission.

Russian cosmonauts plan to conduct 38 scientific experiments and two spacewalks over the next eight months.

In addition, the Soyuz-2.1a booster carried a banner marking the 80th anniversary of the state consortium Energia, which manufactures the Soyuz spacecraft.