American, Russian, and Japanese Astronauts Depart for Joint Mission

American, Russian, and Japanese astronauts have departed for a four-month mission at the International Space Station (ISS) from the Russian Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan. Kate Rubins, the American astronaut, is on her first mission; she is also the first woman to go to the ISS since Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy returned. Anatoly Ivanishin is on his second mission, and Takayo Onishi from Japan has previously been a commercial airline pilot. The mission of these three had been delayed as Russian space officials were updating the software for the Soyuz shuttle; the Soyuz spacecraft have been the main vehicles for traveling to the ISS since the retirement of American shuttles five years ago. The ISS was built with the collaboration of various countries, including the USA, Russia, Norway, Japan, Brazil, and France. It orbits the Earth and is a combination of several space projects, continuously conducting research with astronauts from around the world since 2000. Ms. Rubins is a molecular biologist and will be the first person to work on DNA sequencing at the ISS, which can be identified using specific technologies. Mr. Ivanishin was previously a flight engineer, and his first space mission took place in 2011 and 2012 for 165 days. Mr. Onishi is also the eleventh Japanese citizen to be sent to space.