A SpaceX rocket launch this Wednesday (5) took a Russian cosmonaut to the ISS (International Space Station). The trip is symbolic amid the tensions caused by the war in Ukraine. Information provided by AFP.

Takeoff took place Wednesday noon (5) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida — Photo: NASA/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP/ND

“Let’s do it,” said Crew-5 mission commander Nicole Mann, 45, the first Native American to be sent into space, shortly before liftoff.

Anna Kikina, Roscosmos’ only active Russian cosmonaut, is part of Crew 5, which also includes two Americans and one Japanese. This is the fifth mission to the ISS on a NASA-led SpaceX spacecraft.

Takeoff took place on Wednesday noon (5) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in good weather conditions. Fifteen days ago, an American flew to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

The long-awaited astronaut exchange program continues despite tensions between the two countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Maintenance of the International Space Station has become one of the few areas in which Washington and Moscow still cooperate.

Transporting citizens of another country is a “big responsibility,” NASA Associate Administrator Kathy Lueders said at a press conference in late September.

“From an operational point of view, we really appreciate the permanence of relations even in a very difficult geopolitical moment,” he said of the relationship that the US space agency maintains with Roscosmos.

Engineer Anna Kikina, 38, will be the fifth Russian professional cosmonaut to go into space. “I hope there will be more women in the cosmonaut corps in the near future,” she told AFP in August.

It will also be the first space flight for Americans Nicole Mann and Josh Kassada, and the fifth for Japan’s Koichi Wakata. The capsule that will take them to the ISS, called Endurance, is due to dock after 30 hours of flight. The station is located at a distance of about 400 kilometers from the Earth.

Meeting other crew members

The five astronauts and cosmonauts will be joined by seven more people who are already on the station: two Russians, four Americans and one Italian.

The four members who traveled on the previous mission will return to Earth within days of being replaced. The Crew-5 crew will spend five months in orbit and conduct more than 200 science experiments.

Many of these experiments will be directed to medical research, ranging from 3D bioprinting of human tissues to the study of bacteria grown in microgravity.

Kikina will also be the first Russian to board a Falcon 9 rocket owned by Tesla owner Elon Musk.

*Information provided by AFP.