Soyuz rocket with Russian-US crew starts journey to International Space Station

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia's Soyuz-2.1a rocket, named the Victory Rocket in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, was launched on Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft, the Russian Space Corporation (Roscosmos) said.

On board are Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky, and NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

The spacecraft is following an ultra-fast, "two-orbit rendezvous" trajectory, allowing it to reach the ISS in just three hours and 17 minutes. Docking with the Russian Prichal module is scheduled for 12:04 p.m. Moscow time (CMT0904) later in the day.

The crew is expected to remain aboard the ISS for 245 days.

The rocket was adorned with special symbols honoring the triumph in World War II, a tribute to resilience and unity across time and space.