FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

---

Huntsman Attends Soyuz Spacecraft Launch with Russian-American-German Crew

June 6, 2018 (EIRNS)—U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman today attended the successful launch of a Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft carrying a Russian, American and German crew, with Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev, NASA astronaut Serena Auñón, and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst of Germany.

The Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft lifted off at 11:12 UTC (17:12 in Kazakhstan) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They are expected to reach the International Space Station on the morning of June 8. Their arrival will bring the orbiting lab up to its full complement of six crew members. The three will be joining NASA astronauts Drew Feustel (who is commanding the current mission, Expedition 56) and Ricky Arnold, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.