A Russian Soyuz spacecraft, with the first Belarusian cosmonaut in history on board, Marina Vassilevskaya, successfully took off on Saturday March 23. The flight was postponed by a few days when the rocket was already on the launch pad.
This postponement represents a new setback for the Russian space sector which has been struggling for years due in particular to a lack of funding. Russia has announced that it wants to end its participation in the ISS after 2024 to concentrate on the construction of its own space station.