Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut docked with the International Space Station on Friday after blasting off amid raging tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine.

Earlier Friday Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft.

The crew docked at the ISS three hours later, the Russian space agency said.

At the orbiting station, the trio will join three Russians, two Americans, a Japanese astronaut and a representative of the European Space Agency.

The liftoff took place after Russia's first lunar mission in nearly 50 years failed last month.

The ISS is a rare venue for cooperation between the United States and Russia, whose ties broke down after Moscow unleashed its offensive in Ukraine last year.

One American and two Russians blasted off Friday aboard a Russian spacecraft on a quick trip to the International Space Station.

One American and two Russians blasted off Friday aboard a Russian spacecraft on a quick trip to the International Space Station.

On August 23 the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon's south pole, a location that has always been of particular interest to scientists due to the unique conditions created by the planet's extremities.

The moon rover, Chandrayaan-3, which recently completed its 14-day mission, made history by landing on the lunar south pole. Dr. Laura McKemmish, an astrochemist from UNSW Sydney, explains the significance of the mission and what the future holds for lunar exploration.

"This is the first landing of India on the moon, and it will make India the fourth country ever to land on the moon," says Dr. McKemmish. "The ability of our global civilization to go into space exploration is really, really crucial to enable humankind as a global community to explore elsewhere in the universe."

Interest in the southern pole of the moon stems primarily from the fact that scientists have been aware of the presence of frozen water there, and locating water is a large part of Chandrayaan-3's mission. "Identifying frozen bodies of water on the moon is a really important gateway for further space discovery in our solar system.

During a ceremony at the German Ambassador's Residence in Washington on Thursday, Germany became the 29th country to sign the Artemis Accords.