NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner landed around 150 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan at 0254 GMT, footage broadcast by the Russian space agency Roscosmos showed. The three-man crew had blasted off minus the unusual fanfare in April with around half the world's population living under national lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The mission coincided with the arrival at the space station in May of the first astronauts to blast off from US soil for almost a decade. First-time-flyer Vagner was a rare Roscosmos presence on the micro-blogging platform, where most NASA astronauts have a profile. The ISS, has been a rare example of cooperation between Moscow and Washington.

Source: Bangkok Post October 22, 2020 03:22 UTC