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Soyuz launched to bring 3 more crew to ISS (1st Lead)
May 27, 2009, 10:52 GMT
Moscow - A Russian Soyuz space capsule was launched Wednesday from the Baikonur centre in Kazakhstan to bring three further crew members to the International Space Station ISS.
Russian television reported that the launching took place as scheduled at 1034 GMT.
The Soyz, carring astronauts from Belgium, Canada and Russia, is to dock with the ISS on Friday. They will join three other astronauts already on board the station, making it the largest-ever crew on the ISS.
The three new astronauts are Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium.
They will joint current ISS residents Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, Michael Barratt of the US and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.
Next fall, De Winne is due to become the first ESA astronaut to assume command of the ISS.
The expansion of the crew to six astronauts, after 10 years of ISS construction, will allow crew members to triple the amount of time they devote to science experiments on board. Two Russian spacewalks are scheduled for the crew during June.
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