Russian cosmonauts set for Friday launch to International Space Station

FILE PHOTO: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov pose for a picture during a news conference ahead of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan March 17, 2022. Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Three Russian cosmonauts were due for launch on Friday to the International Space Station (ISS), continuing a two-decade-plus shared Russian-U.S. presence aboard the orbiting outpost despite heightened terrestrial tensions between Moscow and Washington.

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying the new cosmonaut team was set for lift-off at 1555 GMT (11:55 a.m. Eastern time) from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a three-hour-plus ride to the space station.