The two Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Niolai Chub together with the US astronaut Loral O’Hara launched into space on Friday evening on board a Soyuz launch vehicle.
The space capsule docked with the International Space Station ISS at 9:54 p.m. Moscow time (8:54 p.m. CEST), the Russian news agency Interfax reported. The flight from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe to the ISS only took a good three hours.
First flight for the two cosmonauts
According to the plan, O’Hara will remain in space for about six months, Kononenko and Tschub even for about a year. Four exits into the open space and four arrivals of cargo flights are planned during the expedition. The astronauts will also carry out numerous scientific experiments.
This is Kononenko’s fifth flight. O’Hara and Tschub, on the other hand, have their premiere.
