“It is a huge honor for me and a giant duty to be on this unbelievable mission.”Golden TicketEarlier this week, a Russian Soyuz rocket docked with the Worldwide House Station, carrying NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy — and Belarusian flight attendant Marina Vasilevskaya, who gained the journey as a part of a nationwide science contest.The three crew members launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday, arriving on the house station round 50 hours later. The primary launch try, on Thursday, needed to be aborted mere seconds earlier than takeoff.The journey has formally made Vasilevskaya, a flight attendant for Belavia Airways, the primary Belarusian lady to fly into house.It is also an indication that cooperation in house between the US and Russia — together with a few of its closest allies like Belarus — remains to be ongoing, regardless of vital political tensions.”It is a huge honor for me and a giant duty to be on this unbelievable mission,” Vasilevskaya stated in an announcement earlier than launching, as translated by House.com. “That is our nationwide undertaking. It is such a giant honor. I am so proud to characterize our republic.”Snack CartVasilevskaya was one in every of six finalists of a nationwide contest organized by the Belarus Academy of Sciences and the Belarus House Company. Greater than 3,000 feminine candidates utilized.”She’s a flight attendant,” Dyson, the NASA astronaut on board the flight, instructed CollectSPACE. “That is her day job and, as you already know, flight attendants do not simply serve drinks. They’re primarily liable for our private security on board the plane and so she’s no stranger to emergency conditions and what to do and keep calm throughout them.”Vasilevskaya will spend round 12 days on board the house station and can make her return on board a Soyuz spacecraft alongside present ISS crew member and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara for a touchdown on April 6.Her arrival goes to point out that even those that have not spent a few years coaching to grow to be astronauts could make it to house — in the event that they’re extremely fortunate or wealthy, that’s.”She’s actually stepped as much as no matter position she’s been assigned and what she lacks in expertise as a cosmonaut she makes up for with a terrific perspective,” Dyson instructed CollectSPACE.Extra on the ISS: Russia Confirms Small However Rising Leak in House Station