Russian cosmonaut on ride with SpaceX as part of next space station crew

Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX was due to launch the next long-duration crew of the International Space Station into orbit on Wednesday, with a Russian cosmonaut hitching a ride with two Americans and a Japanese astronaut as part of the mission. The SpaceX launch vehicle, consisting of a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Endurance, was set for liftoff at noon EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission, designated Crew-5, marks the fifth full-fledged ISS crew NASA has flown aboard a SpaceX vehicle since the private rocket venture founded by Tesla-owner Musk began sending U.S. astronauts aloft in May 2020. During a news briefing with NASA and SpaceX on Monday, a high-ranking Roscosmos official, Sergei Krikalev, said his agency has Moscow's approval to continue with ISS until 2024 and hopes to secure Kremlin "permission" to extend the partnership further, until Russia builds a new space station.