A fresh crew and a space tourist are on their way to the International Space Station today after launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.American astronaut Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and milionaire video game designer Richard Garriott blasted off as scheduled at 3:01 a.m. EDT and made a flawless nine-minute flight into orbit.
The 16-story rocket sped through crisp blue skies, and in-cabin video showed a calm crew of three flipping through flight data files as the Soyuz made its powerful ascent.
Specialists in the Russian Mission Control Center in Moscow reported that the spacecraft's power=producing solar wings and communications antenna deployed without problem once the Soyuz sspacecraft separated from its launch vehicle.
The crew is scheduled to arrive at the station at 4:38 a.m. EDT Tuesday.Fincke and Lonchakov are the commander and prime flight engineer of the 18th expedition to the station. Garriott is flying under a commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency and will return to Earth Oct. 23 with two homebound cosmonauts.
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