It took off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan to deliver a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS).
Members of the new expedition include Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanski, US astronaut Randolph Bresnik and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
Right after the launch of the spacecraft, the audience gathered in the hall of the Italian Space Agency, including Roberto Vittori who noticed a toy gnome fixed on the dashboard in front of the crew.
Vittori wasn’t surprised though because he had flown with Russian cosmonauts before, once in 2002 and later in 2005.
Russians are very connected with their own history, and they carry it with them even when flying into space, Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori said.
“When I flew for the first time, I did not understand why the commander of the ship, Yuri Gidzenko, got on board and hung this thing [gnome] on an elastic band. At first I thought it was a talisman, but in fact, as soon as we took off, this elastic band began to stretch – Russians historically used to measure acceleration in this way and of course now it isn’t necessary to do this but they are very connected to their history,” Vittori said.
He added that for him it was really exciting to fly with the Russian cosmonauts.
“You live a story, you become a witness of what led to this great success,” the astronaut said.
He said that despite them being real professionals and knowing exactly what is needed to be done for a better future, Russian cosmonauts were “very human and always had a direct approach which made our communication with friends and colleagues easier.”
At present, Roskosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fisher await the arrival of the new expedition onboard the ISS.
It is expected that the crew will spend 139 days at the station.
