Soyuz-2.1a Reaches ISS in Record Time Written 15 October 2020
A MetOp spacecraft ready for the launch atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket. | Credit: Arie; Wikipedia; Public Domain
In continuing coverage, Space News reports that the Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 1:45 a.m. EDT, carrying NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov to the ISS. The spacecraft, “making an ‘ultra-fast’ two-orbit approach, docked with the station’s Rassvet module at” 4:48 a.m. EDT. The three-member crew is beginning a six-month stay at the ISS, and has joined the current ISS crew of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, “who will return to Earth on their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft” October 21.
Full Story (Space News)