Space can be poetic, and sometimes this poetry is visual. The launch of the Soyuz 2.1a rocket on September 21, 2022 formed a strikingly beautiful plume in the Earth’s atmosphere when it was observed by astronauts from the ISS at a very sharp angle.
The magnificent train was photographed by European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who has been aboard the International Space Station since April as part of the Crew-4 mission. “We had an impressive view of the rocket launch!”, Cristoforetti commented on her picture on Twitter along with two photos taken from the station.
During the flight, the crew of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft consisted of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin. The spacecraft with the crew safely docked to the ISS. All of them will spend the next six months in Earth orbit.
We had a spectacular view of the #Soyuz launch!
Sergey, Dmitry and Frank will come knocking on our door in just a couple of hours… looking forward to welcoming them to their new home! #MissionMinerva pic.twitter.com/b6PP8L6AEl— Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) September 21, 2022
The flight took place despite the fact that US relations with Russia have become very tense due to the latter’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to reporters last month, Rubio said that despite the international tensions caused by Russia’s war with Ukraine, he did not notice any problems in communicating with Russian colleagues.
But not everyone shares Rubio’s opinion. Retired astronaut Scott Kelly recently said that the American aerospace administration will no longer cooperate with Russia on new space projects while the current president of the aggressor country is in power. Kelly also shared the revelation of some Russian colleagues who support their country’s actions towards Ukraine, which greatly angered the astronaut. Moreover, at the beginning of the war, the astronaut refused the Russian medal “For Merits in Space Exploration”, which was presented to him by Dmitry Medvedev in 2011.
Earlier, we reported on how the spectacular launch of the Falcon 9 distracted the audience’s attention from the failure of the SLS rocket.
According to CNET
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