Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, on Tuesday, lauded US–Russia space cooperation after a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off for the International Space Station.
According to Russia’s space agency, the Soyuz MS-27 was carrying Russians Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky and NASA’s Jonathan Kim, adding that it was expected to dock at the ISS at 09:04 GMT.
Dmitriev said Tuesday’s launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was the latest example of an enduring relationship that traces its history back to 1975.
That was when the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union, saw an Apollo and a Soyuz dock in space.
That mission, which featured the first international handshake in space, was a symbol of Cold War détente.
“Russian and US cooperation in the space industry continues today,” Dmitriev said on Tuesday, posting a video on his official Telegram channel of the Soyuz rocket blasting off.