Soyuz strikes back with special delivery to ISS

A Soyuz spacecraft has arrived at the International Space Station following the first manned launch since a failed launch in ­October.

The Soyuz MS-11 rocket blasts off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome en route to the International Space Station. Picture: AFP

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying Russian, US and Canadian astronauts arrived at the International Space Station yesterday, following the first manned launch since a failed launch in ­October.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Anne McClain of NASA and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome late on Monday. They successfully docked at the ISS on schedule at 4.36am AEDT to begin an expected 6½ months aboard the ISS, the Russian Roscosmos space agency said via Twitter.

It was the first manned voyage for the Soviet-era Soyuz since ­October 11, when a rocket carrying Russia’s Aleksey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague failed just minutes after blast-off, forcing the pair to make a harrowing emergency landing.

They escaped unharmed but the failed launch — the first such incident in Russia’s post-Soviet history — raised concerns about the state of the Soyuz program.

The Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS since the US retired the space shuttle in 2011.

Mr Kononenko, Lieutenant Colonel McClain and Dr Saint-Jacques smiled and gave thumbs-up signals to the cheering crowd including relatives as they climbed into the Soyuz capsule.

Minutes after take off, Roscosmos said the capsule was in orbit. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine meanwhile thanked the US and Russian teams “for their dedication to making this launch a success”.

In a successful rehearsal for Monday’s flight, a Soyuz cargo vessel took off on November 16 from Baikonur and delivered several tonnes of food, fuel and supplies to the ISS.

Russia said last month the ­October launch had failed because of a sensor damaged during assembly at the Baikonur cosmodrome, but insisted the spacecraft remained reliable.

While flight commander Mr Kononenko is beginning his fourth mission to add to an impressive 533 days in space, both Dr Saint-Jacques and Colonel McClain are making their maiden trips. Mr Kononenko, 54, said on the eve of the launch that “risk is part of our profession”. But he added that his team “absolutely” trusted those who had prepared for the flight.

European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, NASA’s Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Sergei Prokopyev of Roscosmos were set to greet the trio on arrival at the ISS.

Mr Kononenko said the crew would conduct a space walk on December 11 as part of an investigation into a mysterious hole that has caused an air leak on the ISS.

Dr Saint-Jacques will be involved in an experiment called At Home in Space which “takes a closer look at how crew members adapt to living with each other by creating a shared culture”, the Canadian Space Agency said.

Among the dozens of other experiments the new crew members will conduct is one that will use worms to examine muscle loss in space, led by British scientists. The experiment could pave the way to new treatments for muscular conditions for people on Earth, according to the UK Space Agency.

Colonel McClain, 39, served in Iraq and has represented the United States in women’s rugby.

Russia-US co-operation in space has remained one of the few areas not affected by a crisis in ties between the former Cold War ­enemies. But comments by the combative chief of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, have raised eyebrows.

He recently joked Russia would send a mission to the moon to “verify” whether or not NASA lunar landings ever took place.

AFP