an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts will live together in the ISS for six months

At 3:54 p.m. French time, Wednesday, September 21, the Soyuz rocket took off from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) bound for the International Space Station (ISS), with, on board, an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts: Frank Rubio from NASA , as well as Sergueï Prokopiev and Dmitri Peteline, of the Russian agency Roscosmos. With the war in Ukraine, this Russian-American mission comes at a time when relations are at their lowest between Westerners and Russia.

But nothing to worry about, for Arthur Sauzay, expert in space policy at the Montaigne Institute. “There is an obligation of neutrality in the operation of the ISS. In principle, there is no question of playing politics in the context not only of launches, but also of missions”, he explains. The astronauts will have to spend six months aboard the ISS. After the announcement by Washington (United States) against the Russian space industry, tensions have increased in the space field. Russia recently decided to leave the ISS after 2024 to create its own orbital station.