Moscow: Russia's state-owned space corporation Roscosmos announced on Sunday that a NASA delegation has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ahead of the first cross-flight of a US astronaut on a Russian-built spacecraft in 18 months.

"A US delegation arrived in Baikonur to participate in the first cross-flight events on a Soyuz spacecraft - a NASA representative and a relative of US astronaut Frank Rubio," the statement said.

The delegation was present when the Soyuz-2.1A launch vehicle was towed to the launch pad.
Rubio, along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, is set to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on a Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on Sept. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He will be a flight engineer on the ISS expedition. 68 station crew.

On July 14, Roscosmos and NASA reached an agreement on so-called cross flights, allowing Anna Kikina, the only woman in the Russian cosmonaut crew, to travel into space on a US spacecraft, and American cosmonaut Francisco Rubio to space aboard Russia's Soyuz. allowed to travel. MS-22 spacecraft.

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