NASA chief visits Russia's space launchpad for U.S.-Russian crew launch

The Soyuz rocket is raised into position at the Site 31 launch pad of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (Bill Ingalls)

MOSCOW — NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman was attending a scheduled launch Tuesday of a U.S.-Russian crew to the International Space Station, a sign of the ongoing co-operation in orbit between Moscow and Washington despite tensions over Russia’s military action in Ukraine.

Isaacman ’s trip to the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan marked the first visit by a NASA chief in eight years.

Speaking during Monday’s meeting with the crew, Isaacman thanked Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, for its efforts to prepare for the mission, saying that “the integrated work performed over the past several months reflects the professionalism and dedication of everyone involved.”

Isaacman also met with Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov before the launch of NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Russian crewmates Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. They were set to blast off aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 for an eight-month stint on the International Space Station.

The mission is Menon’s first space flight and the second for Dubrov and Kikina.

The trio will join NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrei Fedyaev.

Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. co-operate on the space station and other projects. That relationship was marred by tensions after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, but Washington and Moscow have continued to work together, with U.S. and Russian crews flying to the orbiting outpost on each country’s spacecraft.

Plans for broader co-operation, including possible Russian involvement in NASA’s Artemis program of lunar research, have fallen apart. As Russia has become increasingly reliant on China for its energy exports and imports of key technology amid Western sanctions, Roscosmos has started co-operation with China on its prospective lunar mission.

Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press