Russian Spacecraft Soyuz Blasts Off To ISS With Three Astronauts.

July 20 was not just about reminiscing the historic Apollo 11’s 1969 landing on the Moon, but it was also a matter of celebration as a Russian space capsule made it to the International Space Station (ISS) with three astronauts on board. The fast-track trip to the orbiting space station took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia’s launch complex in Kazakhstan and docked on the ISS at 22:48 GMT after a 6 hour, 20 minute space journey.

The Soyuz carried American astronaut Andrew Morgan, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. While its Morgan’s first spaceflight, its Skvortsov’s third. The three-member crew joined Russian Alexey Ovchinin and Americans Nick Hague and Christina Koch, who have been aboard since March.

According to NASA, once the Soyuz reaches orbit, the crew performs system checks and relay communication with controllers at the Russian Mission Control Center. The assembly and docking are both automated, but the Soyuz crew can intervene or execute the operations too, manually. Once the docking is complete, the crew members balance the air pressure of the space cabin with the Station before opening the hatches. ISS is well supplied with docking and berthing ports for all types of vehicles.

There is at least one Russian Soyuz spacecraft always docked to the space station. In addition to this, one or more resupply spacecraft is also attached to the station. Up to three members can return to Earth aboard a Soyuz TMA spacecraft, which functions as a lifeboat when the crew has to return to Earth unexpectedly. The vehicle lands on the flat prairie of Kazakhstan in central Asia in less than 3.5 hours.
A Soyuz space capsule took the first crew to the International Space Station in November 2000. After the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, the Soyuz TMA became the sole means of transportation for crew members going to and fro to Earth from the orbiting space lab.