This is the fifth regular mission to the ISS performed by SpaceX on behalf of NASA, but the first with a Russian citizen, News.ro reports. 38-year-old engineer Anna Kikina became the fifth professional Russian cosmonaut to visit space.

The Crew-5 team also includes Japanese Koichi Wakata and Americans Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann. Mann is the first Native American to travel to space.

Two weeks ago, an American flew to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

The astronaut exchange program continues despite tensions between the two countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Thus, ensuring the functioning of the ISS became one of the few subjects of cooperation between the USA and Russia.

Carrying a citizen of another country is a “huge responsibility,” NASA Assistant Administrator Kathy Lueders said at a press conference in late September.

Asked about the current relationship with the Russian space agency Roscomos, she said: “From an operational point of view, I very much value the consistency of relations, even in a very difficult period from a geopolitical point of view.”

NASA’s ISS chief Joel Montalbano praised “excellent support from Roscosmos” for these joint flights.

“I hope that in the near future we will have more women in the cosmonaut corps,” Anna Kikina told AFP in August.

It is also the first flight into space for the American astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Kassada, but the fifth for the Japanese Koichi Wakata. After a journey of about 30 hours, their ship will land on Thursday at the station, which is about 400 km above sea level.

Crew-5 members will join seven people already on board (two Russians, four Americans and one Italian).

Crew-5 is scheduled to spend about five months in orbit and conduct more than 200 science experiments, including more than 70 aboard the flying laboratory.

Anna Kikina is the first Russian woman to fly on the Falcon 9 rocket developed by billionaire Elon Musk’s company.