Russian and Native American women are delivered to the space station by SpaceX
Russian and Native American women are delivered to the space station by SpaceX
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A Japanese astronaut, two NASA astronauts, and a Russian cosmonaut who was transported to the International Space Station by the US arrived at her new residence on Thursday for a five-month stay. She is the first Native American woman to have spent time in space. After spending a day in space, the SpaceX capsule docked with the station. The linkup took place just off the west coast of Africa, 260 miles (420 kilometres) above the Atlantic.

Due to a new deal achieved amid disagreement over the conflict in Ukraine, a Russian was transported from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the first time in 20 years. Joining two other Russians aboard the orbiting outpost is cosmonaut Anna Kikina. Before travelling back to Earth in the same SpaceX spacecraft in March, she will reside and carry out her employment on the Russian side.

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Along with Kikina, the crew also included Marine Col. Nicole Mann, a Wailacki from the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California, Navy Capt. Josh Cassada, and Japan’s Koichi Wakata, the only other veteran spaceflyer with five flights. The crew members of the space station assured the visitors that their bunks were prepared and that the outside light was on as the capsule drew near. Mann, the capsule’s commander, retorted, “You guys are the greatest.

Three Americans and one Italian, who have been up there for almost six months, will be replaced by Mann and her crew when they return in their own SpaceX capsule the next week. 11 individuals will share the orbital lab till then. Two weeks ago, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived. He began the cash-free crew shifting between NASA and the Russian Space Agency when he flew on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan. They agreed to the scheme last summer so that there would always be a Russian and an American at the station.

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Before Elon Musk’s SpaceX began carrying people into space two years ago, NASA was required to fork over tens of millions of dollars each time an astronaut arrived aboard a Soyuz.