Russian capsule docks with International Space Station

Russia’s Soyuz-FG rocket, which consists of three stages, boosted the spacecraft 124 miles into Earth’s upper atmosphere before separating from the astronaut-carrying capsule.

Kazakhstan has big plans for Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, the first and biggest working facility for space launches – they want to convert it into a tourist attraction, in hopes that space age enthusiasts will flock to the desert steppes to watch vessels being launched into outer space.

Three astronauts have successfully launched on a mission to reinforce the crew of the worldwide Space Station. The Russian space agency, NASA and other partners decided (quite rightly) to thoroughly investigate the cause of the problem before sending humans up on a similar craft.

The arrival of the three spacefarers will return the station’s complement to six, ending a longer-than-average interim since the last crew departed on June 10.

The 16-storey rocket lifted off at 5.02pm EDT (9.02am NZT) to deliver veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and rookie astronauts Kjell Lindgren with Nasa and Japan’s Kimiya Yui into orbit.

The launch had been scheduled to fly in late May, but was postponed when an unmanned Russian Progress resupply ship spun out of control upon reaching orbit April 28.

As the Soyuz TMA 17M rocket surged skywards from the launch pad, the hearth from the boosters set the inky night time sky aglow. Another Russian craft delivered goods to the station earlier this month. The newcomers were greeted at the Russian segment Rassvet docking port by Gennady Padalka, the ISS commander, fellow cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and NASA’s Scott Kelly. They will remain on the ISS until December.