Washington DC: NASA astronaut Anil Menon and two Russian cosmonauts successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Wednesday (India time) aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft after a journey of just over three hours.
The spacecraft, operated by Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:17 p.m. IST on Tuesday, carrying Menon along with Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina.
Following an eight-minute ascent into its preliminary orbit, Soyuz MS-29 began a nearly three-hour rendezvous with the ISS before successfully docking with the station’s Prichal module at 11:52 p.m. IST.
The crew was welcomed aboard the orbiting laboratory with hugs and handshakes by the astronauts already stationed on the ISS. The mission marks the beginning of their stay aboard the space station, where they will carry out scientific research and other operations.
