A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian commander, a NASA flight engineer, and a Japanese astronaut -- all veteran space travelers -- blasted off and streaked into orbit late Saturday (U.S. time), the first leg of a two-day flight to the International Space Station.
Under a partly cloudy sky, the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:40 p.m. EDT Saturday (GMT-4; 8:40 a.m. Sunday local time) and quickly climbed away atop a rush of fiery exhaust.
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft climbs away from its launching stand at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to kick off a two-day flight to the International Space Station.
(Credit: NASA TV)
The launching came on the 37th anniversary of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that opened the door to U.S.-Russian space cooperation.
"So how are you guys doing?" Vladimir Popovkin, director of the Russian federal space agency, asked the crew a few minutes before liftoff. "All comfy?"
"Yes sir, we're all situated and getting ready," Yuri Malenchenko, the Soyuz commander, replied.
"Excellent. I don't want to take up any more of you time. I wish you all the best, best of luck during the ascent and free flight operations. And hopefully, everything that you wish for will come true. All the best to you."
Live television from inside the central command module showed Malenchenko, strapped i... [Read more]
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