American, Russian cheered as they reach space station – The Boston Globe

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan A Soyuz space capsule on Thursday safely delivered an American astronaut making his first space flight and a veteran Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station.

NASAs Jack Fischer and Russias Fyodor Yurchikhin lifted off from the Russia-leased launch facility in Kazakhstan at Thursday afternoon. They reached orbit about nine minutes later, a moment illustrated when a stuffed white dog toy hanging from a string in the capsule began to float.

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About six hours later, they docked at the orbiting outpost.

NASAs Peggy Whitson, the crews commander, Russias Oleg Novitskiy, and Frances Thomas Pesquet greeted Fischer and Yurchikhin with cheers and hugs. They floated into the station two hours after the docking.

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Yurchikhin, making his fifth space flight, and Fischer, who is there for the first time, talked to family and friends at the Baikonur facility who were watching the launch there.

Fischers wife thanked him for what she said was the most unexpected bouquet of flowers that she received as he was launching into space. Fischer told his wife she had veteran cosmonaut Yurchikhin to thank for that.

The two American astronauts are scheduled to speak with President Trump on Monday.

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On that day, Wilson, who on a previous mission became the first woman to command the International Space Station, will break the US astronaut record for the most cumulative time in space. Jeffrey Williams currently holds the 534-day record.

At 57, Whitson also is the oldest woman to have been in space. She is scheduled to return to Earth in September.

Fischer and Yurchikhin will spend more than four months aboard the orbiting space station before also returning to Earth in September.

Associated Press

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American, Russian cheered as they reach space station - The Boston Globe