Live In Orbit: New Crew Zooms Toward Station

LIVE IMAGES: Refresh this page for updates and the latest still image from NASA TV.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft and three space explorers are zooming toward the International Space Station this morning after a rainy-day launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, American astronaut Michael Barratt and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi set sail at 7:49 a.m. from the same launch pad where Yuri Gagarin launched 48 years ago.

Their Soyuz capsule was deployed in orbit about 10 minutes later.

"Confirm separation of the third stage. Gravity and G-loads are gone. We are in space," Padalka reported after a nine-minute flight into orbit.

"Well, guys. Good luck to you," Mission Control in Moscow said.

"Thank you."

All three aboard the Soyuz said they felt well.

The crew had reported high gravitational forces during the flight, but nothing out of the ordinary. Live video beamed back from the rocket in flight showed the crew in their Soyuz capsule, waving at cameras inside their capsule.

The current crew on the station -- U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata -- watched live video coverage of the launch onboard the outpost.

"We'd like to pass on our congratulations to our team in Moscow for the successful launch of Soyuz TMA-14, and we're looking very forward to welcoming them aboard in just a few days," said station skipper Fincke.

"We got to see the launch from up here and it was quite beautiful. Thank you very much for the coverage, and we're really happy for Gennady Padalka, Dr. Mike Barratt and Charles Simonyi. It's going to be great to have them onboard," he said. "And again, congratulations on another picture-perfect launch."

Click to enlarge this look at the rocket:



Discovery's astronauts cleared the way for the launch with their departure Wednesday from the station.

Padalka, Barratt and Simonyi are scheduled to arrive at the station at 9:15 a.m. Saturday.

The shuttle and its crew are due back at Kennedy Space Center at 1:42 p.m. that same day.