Cape Canaveral, Florida — The first Native American woman to enter space and a Russian astronaut arrived at their new home on Thursday, accompanied by a Japanese astronaut and two NASA from for a stay for five months.
SpaceX capsule stopped at space station a day after launching into orbit. The connection takes place 260 miles (420 kilometers) above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the west coast of Africa.
This is the first time that the Russians have free-ride away from NASA's Kennedy Space Center , which is the result of a new agreement despite friction in the Ukrainian war.
Astronaut Anna Kikina joins two Russians who are already in orbit outposts. She will live and work in Russia until March, then return to Earth in the same SpaceX capsule.
Ride with Kikina: Marine Col.Nicole Mann, Captain of the Navy, Wailacki member of the Indian Tribe of the Pluto Valley, California. Josh Cassada and Japan's Koichi Wakata are the only experienced spacecraft in this group with five missions.
As the capsule was closed, the residents of the station promised newcomers that their berths were ready and the lights outside were on.
capsule commander Man replied, "You are the best."
Mann and her crew will replace three Americans and an Italian who will return in their own SpaceX capsule next week in nearly half a year. Until then, 11 people will share orbital lab .
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived two weeks ago. He launched an Allied rocket from Kazakhstan , launching a cashless crew exchange between NASA and Russian Space Agency . Last summer, they agreed to the plan so that there was always an American and Russian at the station.
Before Elon Musk 's SpaceX started launching astronauts two years ago, NASA was forced to spend tens of millions of dollars each time astronauts flew on Soyuz.
