Soyuz spacecraft with three astronauts was launched towards the International Space Station after a two-month delay caused by a Russian rocket failure. The spacecraft blasted off on schedule from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in the barren Kazakh steppe. The three are cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, US astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan.
After around six hours from the launch, it is announced that the space capsule has been successfully docked at the International Space Station (ISS).
This is the 52nd launch of this variant of the Soyuz rocket, which first flew in 2001 and is based on technology half a century old. NASA will remain reliant upon Russia to reach the station until at least 2017, when SpaceX or Boeing is expected to have a replacement vehicle ready to fly from U.S. soil.
The difference is that they are titles awarded by different space agencies. They both mean essentially the same thing and they both come from Greek.
- Astronaut – astro (star) + naut (sailor)
- Cosmonaut – cosmos (space) + naut (sailor)
Cosmonaut is used by the Russian Space Agency. Astronaut is used by NASA, ESA, CSA, and JAXA. The Chinese don’t use Greek terminology. The use their own language and call the person “space navigating personnel”.
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Video of Soyuz Rocket heading to International Space Station
