The Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Prichal module at 20:52 Moscow time on 14 July, carrying Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina alongside NASA astronaut Anil Menon. The automated approach, completed after a three-hour ultra-fast rendezvous, coincided with a high-level meeting at the Baikonur Cosmodrome where Roscosmos and NASA officials agreed to extend the station’s joint operations through 2030 and to begin detailed coordination of their orbital satellite constellations to avert collision risks.

The launch from Baikonur’s recently repaired Platform 31 marked the first visit by a NASA administrator to the Russian launch site in eight years. Jared Isaacman, who flew privately with Menon’s wife on the Polaris Dawn mission in 2024, observed the liftoff alongside Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Bakanov and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Menon’s flight continues the cross-flight programme established by a 2022 agreement, under which US astronauts ride on Soyuz capsules and Russian cosmonauts fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, ensuring both nations maintain a presence on the station even if one transport system is grounded.

Viewed from Moscow, the agreements signal that space cooperation remains insulated from the rupture in relations over Ukraine. Bakanov disclosed that the two sides had settled on three main points: prolonging ISS work to 2030, exchanging technical data on their respective future national orbital stations to enable post-ISS interoperability, and instituting closer satellite coordination. Manturov added that Russia sees potential for collaboration on lunar programmes, including docking mechanisms, radio communications and navigation for future missions. In Washington, the extension is seen as a pragmatic step to preserve a quarter-century of continuous human presence in low Earth orbit while both agencies develop commercial successors.

The new crew joins the seven members of Expedition 74 already aboard, bringing the total to ten. Over 261 days, the Russian segment will conduct 38 experiments and two spacewalks, while Menon will focus on microgravity’s effects on blood circulation, AI-assisted ultrasound diagnostics, semiconductor crystal growth and the production of intravenous fluids from the station’s water supply. The next concrete milestone is the joint development of a controlled deorbit plan for the ISS at the end of 2030, a programme that Manturov said has already been drafted, setting the stage for the station’s final years of operation.