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Added on the 08/12/2021 09:19:03 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan on Wednesday carrying a Japanese billionaire to the International Space Station. The rocket carrying online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, 46, and his assistant took off at 0738 GMT and is scheduled to arrive at the ISS about six hours later at around 1341 GMT. IMAGES
A Russian spacecraft carrying a Japanese billionaire docks with the International Space Station, marking the country's return to space tourism after a decade-long pause that saw the rise of competition from the United States. Online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their journey aboard the three-person Soyuz spacecraft piloted by cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin took just over six hours, capping a banner year that many have seen as a turning point for private space travel. IMAGES
The first astronauts for China's new space station blasted off on Thursday for the country's longest crewed mission to date, a major step in establishing Beijing as a leading space power. The Long March-2F rocket carrying three astronauts lifted off at 9:22 am local time (0122 GMT) in a cloud of smoke from the Jiuquan launch centre in the Gobi desert. IMAGES
A Soyuz rocket docks at the International Space Station (ISS), carrying Hazzaa al-Mansoori of the United Arab Emirates, who will make history by becoming the first Arab on the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. IMAGES
Two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, and American astronaut Loral O'Hara rocket toward the International Space Station as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise over Ukraine. The crew is expected to dock at the ISS three hours later. The launch comes after Russia's first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed last month. IMAGES