BAIKONUR SPACE CENTER, Kazakhstan, April 18 (UPI) -- Three men took off Monday on a 2-day trip to the International Space Station, two of them to replace the existing crew for a 183-day stay.
NASA TV broadcast the launch from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan and described the moment of launch at 19 minutes past the hour as all according to plan. Seven minutes later, after the first stage of powered flight ended, the crew reported, "Everything nominal, we're feeling great."
Fifteen minutes later the Soyuz TMA-4 space capsule was in preliminary orbit, its solar panels deploying perfectly. In the 48 hours to come the Russian capsule will slowly raise its orbit to meet that of the space station.
It is the third time a Russian rocket is providing the lift into orbit since the U.S. space shuttle was grounded.
The new crew is made up of American Michael Finkle and Russian Gennady Padalka. The third space traveler, Andrew Kuipers of the Netherlands, is making his first trip into space and it will last less than two weeks, since he will return to earth with the existing crew.
U.S. astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri have been in orbit since October.
The cost of providing the transport to the International Space Station is prompting the Russians to press NASA to keep future crews in place as long as a year in orbit, so there will be fewer trips back and forth.
