Russian cosmonaut Kikina to fly to ISS on Crew Dragon spacecraft on Oct 3 - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. Aug 25 (Interfax) - The Crew Dragon-5 spacecraft, whose crew includes Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, will depart for the International Space Station (ISS) on October 3, Roscosmos said on Thursday.

"NASA and SpaceX have set a launch date for the Crew-5 mission. The launch is scheduled for October 3 at 7:45 p.m. Moscow time, but may be postponed to a later date," the state corporation's press service said.

The launch of the United States manned spacecraft Crew Dragon on the Crew-5 mission, the crew of which includes along with Kikina NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata will be performed by the Falcon-9 carrier rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA previously reported that the Crew-5 mission would be launched no earlier than September 29, 2022.

On July 15, Roscosmos said it had signed an agreement on joint cross-flights of Russian cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts to the ISS.

The first flights are scheduled for this fall, Russian cosmonaut Kikina will travel to the ISS on the U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft, while U.S astronaut Francisco Rubio will fly there on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.