It was faster than a Rome-Milan high-speed train, the Soyuz shuttle which in a record time of 3 hours and 3 minutes brought the US astronaut Kate Rubins and the Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov to the International Space Station (ISS) and Sergei Kud-Svertchkov.
This was announced by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, rekindling the direct challenge with the United States which has recently regained the ability to bring astronauts into space thanks to Elon Musk's private company Space X.
The Soyuz, launched from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan at 7:45 am (Italian time), docked with the Space Station at 10:48 after having completed only two orbits around the Earth: so far this shortcut had only been attempted by the cargo Progress, unmanned on board, with a flight lasting 3 hours and 18 minutes.
Very different times compared to normal human flights to the ISS, which usually last six hours: an important journey but much shorter than the two days that were used before 2013.
After the lightning flight aboard the Soyuz, astronauts Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Svertchkov were able to embrace their colleagues who were waiting for them aboard the Space Station: NASA commander Chris Cassidy and the Russians Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.
On Tuesday 20 October the handover between Cassidy and Ryzhikov is expected, who will thus become the new commander.
On Wednesday, in fact, Cassidy, Vagner and Ivanishin will return to Earth with the same Soyuz that had brought them into orbit in April.
With their departure, Expedition 64 will officially begin aboard the Space Station, during which two very important moments are expected: on November 2, 20 years of human presence on board the ISS will be celebrated, while it is scheduled for half or end of the month. the arrival of Space X's Crew Dragon shuttle with the first private crew of four astronauts.
Their launch, scheduled for late October, has been postponed due to problems encountered in the latest launch of the Falcon-9 rocket.
