NASA Astronaut and Roscosmos Cosmonauts Arrive Safely at International Space Station

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub have successfully reached the International Space Station (ISS) after a three-hour journey. The trio launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked with the ISS later in the day.

Upon entering the space station, O’Hara, Kononenko, and Chub were warmly welcomed the seven existing crew members. The official social media account of the ISS shared a photo of the full crew, with O’Hara seen on the far right.

O’Hara, a native of Texas, is embarking on her first orbital mission and will spend the next six months living and working aboard the ISS. Meanwhile, Kononenko and Chub will remain on the space station for an entire year.

The ISS has been experiencing a busy period of crew rotation. Recently, it welcomed SpaceX’s Crew-7 astronauts and bid farewell to the Crew-6 astronauts. In a week’s time, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will return to Earth, with Rubio having spent an impressive 371 days in orbit, setting a new record for the longest duration in space a NASA astronaut.

Rubio’s mission was originally scheduled to last six months, but it was extended due to a coolant leak on his Soyuz spacecraft. Roscosmos decided to delay his return and organize a replacement capsule.

As for O’Hara and her Russian colleagues, their mission was initially set for six months ago but was delayed due to the rescheduling caused Rubio’s extended stay. Now, they are ready to embark on their important work on the ISS.

Sources:
– International Space Station (@Space_Station)
– NASA Astronaut and Roscosmos Cosmonauts Arrive Safely at International Space Station