A Russian cosmonaut who caught a US elevator to the International Space Station arrived at her new home Thursday for a five-month stay, accompanied by a Japanese astronaut and two from NASA, including the first Native American woman in space. The SpaceX capsule arrived at the station a day after it was launched into orbit. The connection occurred 260 miles (420 kilometers) over the Atlantic, just off the west coast of Africa. It was the first time in 20 years that a Russian stepped out of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the result of a new deal reached despite friction over the war in Ukraine. Cosmonaut Anna Kikina joins two Russians already at the outpost in orbit. He will live and work on the Russian side until March, before returning to Earth in the same SpaceX capsule. Riding with Kikina: Marine Col. Nicole Mann, a member of the Wailacki Indian Tribes of California’s Round Valley, Navy Capt. Josh Cassada and Japan’s Koichi Wakata, the only experienced space passenger in the five-mission crew. As the capsule closed, the space station residents promised the new arrivals that their bunks were ready and the exterior light was on. “You’re the best,” replied Mann, the pod commander. Mann and her crew will replace three Americans and an Italian who will return in their own SpaceX capsule next week after nearly half a year there. Until then, 11 people will share the lab in orbit. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived two weeks ago. It was launched on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, starting the cashless crew swap between NASA and the Russian Space Agency. They agreed to the plan last summer to always have one American and one Russian on the station. Until Elon Musk’s SpaceX began launching astronauts two years ago, NASA had to spend tens of millions of dollars every time an astronaut flew aboard a Soyuz. —— The Associated Press Health and Science Section is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Division. AP is solely responsible for all content.
