A Soyuz spacecraft delivered a new crew to the International Space Station on Tuesday, continuing the operational rotation of astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the orbiting laboratory.
What Happened
Soyuz MS-29 launched at 14:47 UTC on July 14 from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft, carrying a crew of three atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, followed a northeastern trajectory into low-Earth orbit. Docking with the ISS occurred at 17:52 UTC after just three hours and four minutes in space, compared to other profiles that require six or even 48 hours. The prime crew consists of Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov as commander, Roscosmos flight engineer Anna Kikina, and NASA astronaut Anil Menon. Two hours after docking with the Russian segment's Prichal module, the hatch was opened for the standard crew transfer process.
Why It Matters
The mission falls within SpaceBytes' coverage scope because it reflects ongoing cross-agency crew arrangements between NASA and Roscosmos involving Dragon spacecraft. Anna Kikina previously flew to the ISS aboard SpaceX Crew-5 in October 2022 as a Roscosmos crew member, becoming the first Russian space agency astronaut to launch on a Commercial Crew vehicle when she flew on Crew Dragon Endurance. The barter agreement between NASA and Roscosmos extends through at least 2027, with each side flying at least one of the other's astronauts or cosmonauts aboard their respective crewed vehicles. This arrangement ensures redundant ISS access if either spacecraft faces grounding issues. Dubrov, Kikina, and Menon originally trained as the backup crew for Soyuz MS-28 before rotating to this flight, a standard practice in Russian crew rotation.
The Bottom Line
Soyuz MS-29's arrival sets up a 12-day handover period with the outgoing Soyuz MS-28 crew before that spacecraft undocks on July 26. Expedition 74 will officially end upon undocking, transitioning to Expedition 75.