Soyuz spacecraft launched with 3 astronauts for ISS
BAIKONUR. KAZINFORM - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft was launched Thursday morning with three astronauts from Japan, Russia and the United States on board, Kyodo reports.
The Soyuz will spend about two days traveling to the International Space Station, where the crew -- Takuya Onishi, 40, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Anatoli Ivanishin, 47, of Russia's Roscosmos agency and Kate Rubins, 37, of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration -- will stay for around four months to conduct experiments.
It is the first trip into space for Onishi, whose missions will include releasing a small satellite from Japan's Kibo laboratory unit, JAXA said.
Onishi vowed "to do my best" at a ceremony in Baikonur where colleagues saw him off.
A former All Nippon Airways Co. pilot and the 11th Japanese astronaut to go into space, Onishi will keep mice and conduct an experiment to develop a new material at Kibo.
Liftoff of the spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan had been delayed for about two weeks from the initially scheduled June 24 due to control system problems.
The new type of Soyuz is expected to dock with the ISS at 1:13 p.m. on Saturday, JST.
Source: Kyodo