Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

2 hours ago

Trump Escalates Feud With Musk, Threatens Tesla, SpaceX Support

2 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

18 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

18 hours ago

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

20 hours ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

21 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

1 day ago
Russian-US Crew Welcomed Aboard the Space Station
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
October 14, 2020

Share

MOSCOW — A trio of space travelers blasted off to the International Space Station on Wednesday, using for the first time a fast-track maneuver that allowed them to reach the orbiting outpost in just a little over three hours.

NASA’s Kate Rubins along with Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos lifted off as scheduled Wednesday morning from the Russia-leased Baikonur space launch facility in Kazakhstan for a six-month stint on the station.

For the first time, they tried a two-orbit approach and docked with the space station in just a little over three hours after lift-off. Previously it took twice as long for crews to reach the station.

Aboard the station, they were welcomed by the station’s NASA commander, Chris Cassidy, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, who have been aboard the complex since April and are scheduled to return to Earth in a week.

Speaking during Tuesday’s pre-launch news conference at Baikonur, Rubins emphasized that the crew spent weeks in quarantine at the Star City training facility outside Moscow and then on Baikonur to avoid any threat from the coronavirus.

“We spent two weeks at Star City and then 17 days at Baikonur in a very strict quarantine,” Rubins said. “During all communications with crew members, we were wearing masks. We made PCR tests twice and we also made three times antigen fast tests.”

‘We’re Planning to Try Some Really Interesting Things’

She said she was looking forward to scientific experiments planned for the mission.

“We’re planning to try some really interesting things like bio-printing tissues and growing cells in space and, of course, continuing our work on sequencing DNA,” Rubins said.

Ryzhikov, who will be the station’s skipper, said the crew will try to pinpoint the exact location of a leak at a station’s Russian section that has slowly leaked oxygen. The small leak hasn’t posed any immediate danger to the crew.

“We will take with us additional equipment which will allow us to detect the place of this leak more precisely,” he told reporters. “We will also take with us additional improved hermetic material which will allow to fix the leak.”

In November, Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov are expected to greet NASA’s SpaceX first operational Crew Dragon mission, which is bringing NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi to the space station aboard the Crew Dragon vehicle. It follows a successful Demo-2 mission earlier this year.

The Crew Dragon mission was pushed back from Oct. 31 into November, and no new date has been set yet. The delay is intended to give SpaceX more time to conduct tests and review data from an aborted Falcon 9 launch earlier this month.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

CA Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Housing Construction

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Investigate Deadly Shooting Near Bethlehem Center

DON'T MISS

Trump-Backed Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Passes US Senate

DON'T MISS

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

DON'T MISS

Musk Promises a New Political Party if the GOP Bill Passes

DON'T MISS

Dollar Gains Ground Against Major Peers After Better-Than-Expected US Jobs Data

DON'T MISS

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

DON'T MISS

France Shuts Schools, Italy Limits Outdoor Work as Heatwave Grips Europe

DON'T MISS

Powell Reiterates Fed Will Wait for More Data Before Cutting Rates

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Investigate Morning Shooting Outside Bethlehem Center

UP NEXT

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

UP NEXT

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

935 People Killed in Israeli Strikes on Iran, Official Says

UP NEXT

US Revokes Visas for Bob Vylan After Music Duo’s Glastonbury Chants

UP NEXT

Israel Acknowledges Palestinian Civilians Harmed at Gaza Aid Sites, Says ‘Lessons Learned’

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

Iran-Linked Hackers May Target US Firms and Critical Infrastructure, US Government Warns

UP NEXT

Israel Strikes Pound Gaza, Killing 60, Ahead of US Talks on Ceasefire

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

1 hour ago

Musk Promises a New Political Party if the GOP Bill Passes

1 hour ago

Dollar Gains Ground Against Major Peers After Better-Than-Expected US Jobs Data

2 hours ago

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

2 hours ago

France Shuts Schools, Italy Limits Outdoor Work as Heatwave Grips Europe

2 hours ago

Powell Reiterates Fed Will Wait for More Data Before Cutting Rates

2 hours ago

Visalia Police Investigate Morning Shooting Outside Bethlehem Center

2 hours ago

Israeli Officials to Hold Ceasefire Talks in Washington Amid Military Escalation in Gaza

2 hours ago

US Senate Republicans Struggling to Unite on Trump’s $3.3 Trillion Tax-Cut Bill

2 hours ago

Trump Escalates Feud With Musk, Threatens Tesla, SpaceX Support

2 hours ago

CA Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Housing Construction

SACRAMENTO — California leaders on Monday rolled back a landmark law that was a national symbol of environmental protection before it came t...

41 minutes ago

41 minutes ago

CA Rolls Back Its Landmark Environmental Law to Speed Housing Construction

A 36-year-old man died after being shot multiple times outside the Bethlehem Center in Visalia, prompting an active homicide investigation on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Visalia PD)
42 minutes ago

Visalia Police Investigate Deadly Shooting Near Bethlehem Center

President Donald Trump arrives at a dinner for NATO heads of state and governments hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Dutch Queen Maxima, on the sidelines of a NATO Summit, at Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. (Reuters/Toby Melville)
47 minutes ago

Trump-Backed Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Passes US Senate

President Donald Trump and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speak with the media at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on the day of the opening of a temporary migrant detention center informally known as "Alligator Alcatraz" in Ochopee, Florida, U.S., July 1, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
1 hour ago

Homeland Security Secretary Noem Says CNN May Be Prosecuted Over Report on Migration App

Tesla CEO Elon Musk greets U.S. President Donald Trump as they attend the NCAA men's wrestling championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., March 22, 2025. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo)
1 hour ago

Musk Promises a New Political Party if the GOP Bill Passes

U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken March 19, 2025. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
2 hours ago

Dollar Gains Ground Against Major Peers After Better-Than-Expected US Jobs Data

2 hours ago

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

A tourist cools off in the Trocadero Fountain next to the Eiffel Tower as an early summer heatwave hits Paris, France, July 1, 2025. (Reuters/Tom Nicholson)
2 hours ago

France Shuts Schools, Italy Limits Outdoor Work as Heatwave Grips Europe

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend