杏吧原创

A Russian-French mission to replace the International Space Station鈥檚 鈥渓ifeboat鈥� is due to dock with the station early on Tuesday.

The Russian cosmonauts, Viktor Afanasiev and Konstantin Kozeyev, together with French cosmonaut Claudie Haignere, took off on board the two-stage Soyuz TM-33 rocket in the early hours of Sunday from Baikonur, in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz they arrive in will be swapped with the Soyuz capsule currently serving as the emergency escape craft. The crew will then return in the retiring Soyuz.

These crafts serve as the only means of escape for ISS crew in the event of depressurisation, fire or medical emergency, but need to be replaced every 180 days. They are almost identical to those used in as long ago as 1967, during the Soviet space program.

Traditional blessing

Following Russian tradition, the three crew were all blessed by an Orthodox priest prior the launch. Security was also stepped-up for the launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome 鈥渢o take into account of recent events in the world鈥� 鈥� a reference to Kazakhstan鈥檚 relative proximity to the US military campaign in Afghanistan.

Haignere was the first French woman to go into space in 1996 when she boarded the now defunct Russian Mir station. She will now be the first European woman to board the ISS.

The mission also marks a shift in French policy over human spaceflight, as Roger-G茅rard Schwartzenberg takes over from Claude Allegre as France鈥檚 鈥渟pace鈥� minister. Allegre was known to be against human space flight.