An American, a Japanese and a Russian blast into space
Two rookie astronauts and an experienced cosmonaut have blasted off on a six-month mission at the International Space Station
Baikonur, Kazakhstan — A three-man space crew featuring American and Japanese rookie astronauts as well as an experienced Russian cosmonaut blasted off on Sunday for a six-month mission at the International Space Station (ISS). Scott Tingle of Nasa, Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency powered into the sky in a Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7.21am GMT. Nasa TV footage from inside the Soyuz capsule showed a toy poodle made by Shkaplerov’s cousin and modelled on the cosmonaut’s family dog floating around the capsule as the spacecraft entered zero gravity. Roscosmos confirmed the Soyuz crew had launched "successfully" in a Sunday statement on the space agency’s website. While most flights to the space station now take about six hours, the trio are taking the more circuitous two-day route due to the lab’s position in space at the time of the launch. Docking is expected on Tuesday at 8.43am GMT....
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