Two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are speeding toward the International Space Station after a flawless launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.Fyodor Yurchikhin was at the controls, flanked by Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker, as the Soyuz blasted off from the central Asian space at at 3:35 a.m. local time, or 5:35 p.m. EDT. The Soyuz could be seen streaking through the night sky for most of the nine-minute flight into orbit. The spacecraft's solar arrays and navigation antennas deployed on time once the Soyuz reached orbit.
"A perfect ascent into orbit for the newest trio of residents headed for the International Space Station," NASA launch commentator Rob Navias said from the U.S. Mission Control Center in Houston.Onboard the station, commander Alexander Skvortsov and flight engineers Mikhail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson watched a live broadcast of launch as the outpost zoomed over the South Atlantic Ocean.
The Soyuz is due to arrive at the station at 6:25 p.m. Thursday. Live coverage in The Flame Trench will begin at 6 p.m. that night. A welcome ceremony also will be broadcast beginning at 10 p.m. Thursday.
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