NASA astronaut joins Russian Soyuz crew for April flight to space station

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, veteran of a 168-day stay in space in 2017-18, will join two Russian cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz spacecraft April 9 for a flight back to the International Space Station in a deal brokered through Houston-based Axiom Space, NASA and the Russian space agency announced Tuesday. While NASA funded the development of SpaceX and Boeing commercial crew capsules to end the agency’s post-shuttle reliance on Russia for space transportation, continued launches aboard the Soyuz will ensure a U.S. presence on the lab even if an American spacecraft and crew are forced to make an unplanned departure. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 11)