The Russian Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the space station – Liberation

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The Soyuz spacecraft, with on board an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts launched Friday night Cosmodrome s ‘docked early Saturday to the International Space Station (ISS), where two of them begin an unprecedented one-year mission, confirmed the Russian control centers and NASA.

The Soyuz -TMA16M took off as scheduled at 19:42 GMT from the Baikonur in Kazakhstan on a flight without a 5:51 minute problem to reach the orbital outpost and tie it at 1:33 GMT, said a commentator on NASA TV which broadcast live the maneuver.

The hatch between the Soyuz and the Station was opened two hours later at 3:33 GMT after the pressure between the two vessels had been equalized. The three occupants of the Soyuz, the Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Scott Kelly, NASA flight engineer, then entered the station where they were welcomed by the existing three crew members, are giving hugs.

This is the American Terry Virts, current captain, Russian Anton Shkaplerov and the Italian Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (ESA). Terry Virts and his Italian colleague should return to Earth in May.

Mikhail Kornienko, 54, and Scott Kelly, 51, will stay for 342 days on board the ISS, the longest uninterrupted period in the Station performed by astronauts since the commissioning of its first habitable module 2000. The two men have already made all six months of missions to the station, the current standard period of six crew rotations.

Objective: send one day astronauts on Mars

This mission is to “collect biomedical data to prepare long-term manned missions in space” , while the United States is considering sending astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

“The mission of Scott Kelly is essential to advance the goal of the United States send astronauts to Mars “, said in a statement the head of NASA, Charles Bolden who came to Baikonur for the launch. “We will obtain new data on the effects of long-term space flight on the human body” , he added.

NASA better understand account physiological and psychological impact of long stays in space where the body ages faster under the effect of weightlessness and radiation on bones, muscles and cardiovascular system, explained Julie Robinson, chief scientist of ISS during a press conference in January with this mission. Scientists can compare the particular evolution of Scott Kelly organization with that of his twin brother, a retired NASA astronaut who has made several visits to the Space Station.

Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko have a long experience of space, each having already spent six months in the Space Station. After this mission, Scott Kelly will become the American who remained longer in orbit without interruption. “I hope it will not be too hard and that we can continue to live and work in space for longer periods” , he explained before the mission.

Mikhail Kornienko had for its part said that “flowing water and in which you can swim, not in the form of bubbles floating in space, is one of the things that go on plus (him) missed “ on board the ISS. The record for the longest stay in orbit is held by Russian Valeri Polyakov, remained 14 consecutive months aboard the space station Mir in 1994-95.

Russian-American research mission that will take them Both men also has a high symbolic value, while in Ukraine because of conflict relations between the United States and Russia are at their lowest since the end of the Cold War in 1991. Since its launch into orbit in 1998, ISS was largely funded by the United States but they also depend on Russia for the operation of the station and to get their astronauts there since late flights from the US Space Shuttle in July 2012. The space cooperation between two countries remains one of the few areas in which their agreement continues.