NASA delegation arrives at Baikonur over first cross flight aboard Soyuz

A US delegation with NASA representatives has arrived at Baikonur, ahead of the first cross flight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.

"A US delegation has arrived at Baikonur to participate in the events of the first cross flight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft - they are representatives of NASA and relatives of astronaut Frank Rubio," the Roscosmos press service told journalists on September 18, according to TASS.

The NASA delegation is led by Kenneth Bowersox, the state corporation specified.

Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was on Sunday installed on Launch Pad 31 (Vostok) of the Baikonur Space Center.

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft will blast off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan at 16:54 Moscow time on September 21.

The spacecraft’s crew will comprise Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio. Their space mission is to last 188 days, until March 28. The spacecraft will also carry about 120 kilograms of payload.