A Soyuz rocket blasted off to the International Space Station, carrying an American and two Russians, in the midst of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

A Soyuz rocket took off on Wednesday, September 21, bound for the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with an American and two Russians on board, in full tension linked to the attack in Ukraine.

“The stability is good (…) the crew feels good”A commentator at NASA said after take-off, a joint live broadcast on the websites of the US and Russian space agencies. Pictures showed that the Russian missile took off on schedule at 13:54 GMT from the steppes of Kazakhstan, flying in a series of flames in a dark sky.

This mission by American Frank Rubio of NASA and Russians Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petline of the Russian space agency Roscosmos represent a rare example of cooperation between Moscow and Washington, while their relations are at an all-time low.

sincere Rubio is the first American astronaut to travel to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket since Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine began on February 24.

The crew will spend six months aboard the International Space Station, meeting with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveshev and Sergey Korsakov, American astronauts Bob Heinz, Kjell Lindgren and Jessica Watkins, and Italian astronauts Samantha Cristoforetti.

This is the first flight of Frank Rubio and Dmitry Petlain, and the second for Sergei Prokopiev. It is scheduled to dock with the Russian sector of the International Space Station after a three-hour Soyuz flight.