Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard U.S. spacecraft for first time since 2002
CBSN
Despite frigid U.S.-Russian relations, cosmonaut Anna Kikina is poised to become the first Russian to launch on an American rocket in nearly two decades and the first to fly aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon ferry ship for a flight to the International Space Station.
The 38-year-old Kikina, the only active-duty female in Russia's cosmonaut corps, will join Crew 5 commander Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada and Japanese veteran Koichi Wakata for blastoff from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 12 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Forecasters predicted good weather locally, although mission managers were keeping close tabs on high winds and waves down range along the spacecraft's northeasterly trajectory over the Atlantic Ocean that could cause problems for booster recovery operations and abort scenarios.
