The crewed cargo spacecraft Soyuz MS-26, which will deliver the crew of the 72nd long-term expedition to the ISS, has been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft took off at 19:23 Moscow time from launch pad No. 31. On board are Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner, as well as NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, forming the main crew. The backup crew includes cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky, along with NASA astronaut Jonathan Kim. The flight of the crewed spacecraft will follow a super-fast two-orbit rendezvous scheme and will take approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes. Docking of the Soyuz MS-26 to the "Rassvet" research module of the Russian segment of the ISS is scheduled for 22:33 Moscow time. According to Roscosmos, the spacecraft will remain in orbit for 202 days. The Soyuz MS-26 will also deliver about 130 kg of cargo to the station, including equipment for scientific experiments, personal items for the cosmonauts, and photo and video equipment. Cosmonaut Ovchinin reported that during the expedition, the Russian crew will perform a spacewalk in December 2024.