NASA: Crew Dragon with a Russian cosmonaut on board will depart for the ISS in mid-February

A new crew of Crew Dragon with Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev on board will go to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than mid-February, NASA said.

“The earliest launch date for the Crew-6 mission mid-February 2023,” the U.S. space agency said.

The launch will take place from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in Florida. The crew of the ship, in addition to the Russian, will include two American astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, as well as an astronaut from the UAE Sultan Al Neyadi. For Fedyaev, al-Neyadi and Hoburg, the upcoming space flight will be the first in their careers.

Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev will become the second Russian to fly on the U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of a cross-flight agreement to the ISS. Earlier in October, the Crew-5 mission spacecraft delivered a Russian woman, Anna Kikina, into orbit. In exchange for Russian cosmonauts flying on Crew Dragon, Roscosmos is bringing U.S. astronauts to the ISS on a Soyuz spacecraft. It is planned that the next Russian and one U.S. spacecraft will launch as part of the crossover flights to the ISS in 2024.