Roscosmos’ Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, alongside NASA’s Mark Vande Hei, launched on board a Soyuz MS-18 to the International Space Station, three days before the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s ground breaking maiden human voyage.
The spacecraft was dubbed the Yu.A. Gagarin, in honour of the cosmonaut.
The Soyuz docked at the ISS approximately 270 miles in orbit above the south Pacific, where they met their seven compatriots from Expedition 64.
It is expected that Expedition 65 will launch on 16 April following the launch of three additional astronauts: Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Kate Rubins and Sergey Ryzhikov. The SpaceX Crew Dragon is expected to follow shortly after on 22 April.
[Related: WATCH: SpaceX Starlink Mission]
Liam Garman
Liam began his career as a speechwriter at New South Wales Parliament before working for world-leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is undertaking a Masters in Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra.
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