NASA astronaut and Russian crew members have reached the International Space Station.

American astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crew members' spacecraft took off from the Baikonur facility rented by Russia in Kazakhstan.

The Russian spacecraft carrying American NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and his two Russian crew mates reached the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday. The Kremlin's envoy highlighted the space cooperation between Washington and Moscow as the rapprochement between the two countries continues. The Soyuz booster rocket took off as planned from the Baikonur launch facility rented by Russia in Kazakhstan on Tuesday morning to place Soyuz MS-27 into orbit. The rocket docked with the space station a little over three hours later. The vehicle includes NASA astronaut Kim and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, who are expected to spend about eight months at the space station. Kirill Dmitriev, the envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, shared a video of the rocket's launch on his Telegram channel, stating, "Cooperation between Russia and the US in the space industry continues today." Last week, Dmitriev met with US officials in Washington. This was the first such meeting in years. The two countries are trying to re-establish their relations. US President Donald Trump wants to get closer to Putin to end Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to NASA's announcement, Kim, who serves as a lieutenant in the US Navy and is a dual-degree naval aviator and flight surgeon, will conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations to help the crew prepare for future space missions. Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky will join NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Kirill Peskov at the space station.