Russia’s Soyuz MS-16 manned spacecraft with three crewmembers of a long-term expedition to the International Space Station separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket and embarked on its autonomous flight to the orbital outpost, Roscosmos reported in a live broadcast today.
The carrier rocket lifted off from Site No. 31 of the Baikonur cosmodrome (the Vostok launch facility) at 11:05 a.m. Moscow time. The carrier rocket is delivering Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy to the International Space Station, TASS reported.
The Soyuz MS-16 is the first manned spacecraft travelling to the orbital outpost atop the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Russian control system. Before that, all manned launches were carried by Soyuz-FG rockets with the Ukrainian control system.
