In a rare instance of cooperation between Moscow and Washington, a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have arrived at the International Space Station.

The commentators speaking over the feed said the crew were feeling well after the launch.

The crew that launched from Baikonur was made up of two Americans and two Russians.

Six people, including three Russians, three Americans, and one Italian, will be on the International Space Station for six months.

Nasa astronaut Frank Rubio (left) and the Roscosmos cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev (centre) and Dmitri Petelin (right), walk to the Soyuz spaceship.

Nasa astronaut Frank Rubio (left) and the Roscosmos cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev (centre) and Dmitri Petelin (right), walk to the Soyuz spaceship. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/AP

The first US astronauts to travel to the International Space Station on a Russian rocket was done by Marco Rubio. Western capitals, including Washington, have hit Moscow with sanctions.

The US and Russia have been cooperating in space for a long time. Russia has only one female cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, who is expected to travel to the orbital station in early October.

Only five professional female cosmonauts from Russia or the Soviet Union have ever gone into space, and the first Russian to fly on a spaceship is from the company of billionaire Musk.

The conflict that is raging back on Earth is something that the Russian and western astronauts want to avoid at all costs.

The US, Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency and Russia collaborated to create the International Space Station.

The US segment of the International Space Station is responsible for electricity and life support systems, while the Russian segment is responsible for maintaining the space station's flight path.

Tensions in the space field have grown since the US imposed sanctions on Moscow, prompting warnings from Russia's former space chief.

Russia will leave the International Space Station after 2024 in favor of creating its own station, according to Yury Borisov, the new leader. The US space agency called the decision unfortunate and said it would affect scientific work on the International Space Station.

Russia's space industry would not be able to flourish under heavy sanctions because construction of a new orbital station could take more than a decade.

At a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation, the International Space Station was launched in 1998.

The Soviet space programme grew in size. In 1961, it sent the first man into space and four years later it launched the first satellite.

Corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites have been setbacks for the Russian space agency.

Russia used to have a monopoly on crewed flights to the International Space Station.