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Soyuz MS-18 crew launches to space station 60 years after first human spaceflight
Three astronauts embarked for the International Space Station just three days shy of the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight. The trio launched on Soyuz MS-18, named the "Yu.A. Gagarin."
Science & Tech
A three-person crew embarked for the International Space Station on Friday (April 9), launching just three days shy of the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight.
Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei lifted off aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft for a three-hour, two-orbit rendezvous with the space station. The Soyuz took flight at 3:42 a.m. EDT (0742 GMT or 12:42 p.m. local time) from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, near where cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history by becoming the first person to fly into space on April 12, 1961.
To honor the anniversary, the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft was christened the "Yu.A. Gagarin" and bore the name on its exterior insulation.