“Soyuz MS-25 has docked to the ISS,” Roscosmos stated.

Moscow:

Russia’s Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft efficiently docked to the International Space Station Monday, 4 days after its launch was delayed as a consequence of a technical challenge, the Roscosmos area company stated.

On board is Belarus’ first feminine cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya, skilled Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and US astronaut Tracy Dyson, who blasted off on Saturday for a two-day journey.

“Soyuz MS-25 has docked to the ISS,” Roscosmos stated.

Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will spend 14 days in orbit, returning residence aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft with US astronaut Loral O’Hara, whereas Dyson will spend 184 days in area.

MS-25’s take-off was aborted seconds earlier than launch on Thursday, elevating additional questions concerning the reliability of Russia’s beleaguered area programme.

Once a space-faring pioneer, Moscow has confronted a number of setbacks for the reason that collapse of the USSR, together with the lack of two Mars missions and its first lunar probe in nearly 50 years final August.

Space is among the remaining areas of US-Russia cooperation amid an nearly full breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington during the last two years.

For nearly a decade, Russian Soyuz launches have been the one approach to ferry astronauts between Earth and the ISS, after NASA halted its Space Shuttle programme. 

But the United States has now moved to utilizing privately-built SpaceX rockets and capsules, ending Russia’s monopoly on manned launches.

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