Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut reached the International Space Station on Friday while raging tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine issues were on the rise.
Earlier Friday Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.
The crew docked at the ISS three hours later, the Russian space agency said.
At the orbiting station, the trio will join three Russians, two Americans, a Japanese astronaut and a representative of the European Space Agency, reports BBC.
The liftoff took place after Russia's first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed last month.
The ISS is a rare venue for cooperation between the United States and Russia, whose ties broke down after Moscow unleashed its offensive in Ukraine last year.
Kononenko alluded to the tensions during a pre-flight press conference on Thursday, saying that "unlike on earth" cosmonauts and astronauts took care of each other in space.
Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque
