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Soyuz MS-26 takes new crew, including new TASS correspondent, to ISS

The spacecraft carries Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit

Nasa astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

Nasa astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, September 12. /TASS/. The Soyuz MS-26 manned spacecraft docked with the Rassvet module of the International Space Station (ISS) late on Wednesday, taking new crew members to the orbital outpost.

The spacecraft carries Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner (who will also work as a TASS special correspondent on the orbital outpost) and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit. They make up ISS Expedition 72.

The crew is scheduled to spend 202 days in orbit and return on April 1, 2025. Their mission, lasting around six months, lists 42 scientific experiments including three performed for the first time. Ovchinin said previously that the scientific schedule includes experiments in medicine, biology, remote sensing of the Earth and other areas. Also, the crew will continue their scientific work involving a 3D bioprinter.

Also, Ovchinin and Vagner will perform a spacewalk in December to install a spectrometer on the outer surface of the Zvezda module.

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Roscosmos ISS NASA

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