New crew reaches ISS in record time – Science & Tech

A crew of three successfully reached the International Space Station on Wednesday aboard a Russian rocket after the fastest journey from Earth of just over three hours.

The Soyuz spacecraft mission with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut was of immense importance to the Russian space agency Roscosmos as the SpaceX program restarted manned space travel from the US and new talks about a space race between the two countries began puts.

Roscosmos said, “A new record for flights to the International Space Station has been set – the total time from launch to docking of the Soyuz MS-17 was three hours and three minutes.”

Roscosmos has had the task of transporting US astronauts to the ISS since the space shuttle retired in 2011.

Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov from Roscosmos and Kathleen Rubins from NASA took off from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0545 GMT on Wednesday.

The trip to the ISS usually takes around six hours – a time that is a huge improvement on the two-day flights that were predominant before 2013.

In fact, the manned journey on Wednesday was the fastest time for missions that only involved transporting supplies to the train station.

To date, only one Progress unmanned cargo spacecraft has used this profile, which requires only two orbits before docking.

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“Incredibly happy”

The launch takes place between two SpaceX missions – the first manned space flights to the ISS under the auspices of NASA since 2011.

Before May 30, when US astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley courtesy of missile tycoon Elon Musk’s cars came to the ISS, Russia and Baikonur had a lucrative monopoly on manned missions to the ISS.

But their Dragon Endeavor vehicle did not successfully dock with the ISS until about nineteen hours after entering orbit.

The NASA duo returned safely on August 2nd and a new SpaceX launch, this time with a full-length biannual mission to the space station, is expected next month.

The advent of private gamers SpaceX and Boeing – part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program – has fueled discussion of a new “space race” between a number of countries.

But the men and women who fly to the space station downplay talk of competition and instead focus on space travel’s ability to bring rival nations together for a common cause.

At a pre-launch press conference Tuesday, Rubins did not refer directly to the SpaceX flight when asked how she felt on board in a new era in space exploration.

“We can’t choose our start date or what’s going to happen on the station, but I’m incredibly happy to be on the station when … these events take place,” said the American astronaut, who celebrated her 42nd birthday on Wednesday.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, strict precautions have been taken, including stricter quarantine and wearing masks before takeoff. However, the astronauts and space officials denied any concerns about the risk of infection on the ISS.

“I think we have a very strict quarantine, starting almost March,” said Rubins, a microbiologist who researched the deadly Ebola virus before starting her astronaut training.

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“Too US-centered”

Ryzhikov, a 46-year-old former military pilot, has spent 173 days in space, compared to Rubins’ 115 while Kud-Sverchkov, 37, flies for the first time.

On the eve of the launch, Ryzhikov expressed his grief over the ongoing fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh and hoped that the ISS example could help “spread love, friendship and camaraderie”.

The ISS, which has been permanently manned since 2000, is a rare example of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.

Rogozin said Monday he had no plans to attend Moscow “on a large scale” at a NASA-run lunar orbit station called The Gateway.

The proposed new station “is too US-centered,” said Rogozin.

The Russian space program has suffered a number of setbacks in recent years, notably the failure of a Soyuz missile in 2018, just minutes after launch – the first such incident in the history of post-Soviet spaceflight. The two astronauts on board were not injured.