TITUSVILLE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2022) The US-Japanese-Russian crew which is set to blast off for the International Space Station (ISS) on a Dragon spacecraft later on Wednesday is heading toward the launch site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
All the crew members look happy and ready to go. Before getting on Tesla cars to head for the launch site, they stopped for a few minutes to say goodbye to the loved ones.
When cosmonaut Anna Kikina saw Russian journalists, she thanked them for support.
A Sputnik correspondent shouted to her "we are proud of you." She responded: "And I love you."
Anna's husband came to the car, he was holding Anna's hand and kissed her several times.
Anna joked a lot and posed for photos. She even posed when sat inside Tesla. The crowed cheered each time she waved.
The sky above the Kennedy Space Center is cloudless and there is no wind.
Dozens of international media representatives have arrived to witness the Crew 5 walkout very early in the morning.
Despite the early hour, NASA Chief Bill Nelson came to see the walkout of the crew. He looked happy and chatted with guests.
The launch is scheduled for noon EDT at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Dragon spacecraft, named Endurance, is set to dock to the space station at 4:57 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
NASA's Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, as well as Japan's Koichi Wakata, and Russia's Kikina will stay in orbit for about six months and carry out over 200 scientific experiments.
In July, Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on integrated flights of cosmonauts and astronauts to the ISS. As part of the agreement, the Soyuz-2.1a rocket with a Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur to the ISS on September 21 carrying another crew including Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin as well as NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio.
