Russian scientists may have found new life under Antarctic ice

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian scientists believe they have discovered new life forms sealed off for millions of years in a subglacial lake deep under the Antarctic ice, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday.

After more than a decade of stop-and-go drilling, Russia pierced through Antarctica's frozen crust last year and took back samples of water from a vast lake that has lain untouched for at least 14 million years.

Scientists say the icy darkness of Lake Vostok, under some 3,700 metres of ice, may provide a glimpse of the planet before the Ice Age and clues to life on other planets.

"After excluding all known contaminants, bacterial DNA was found that does not match any known species in world databases," Sergei Bulat of the St Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute told RIA.

"If it (the bacteria) had been found on Mars, then without a doubt we would have said there is life on Mars - but this is DNA from Earth," he said. "We are calling this life form unidentified or unclassified."

Scientists from the United States and Britain are close on Moscow's heels to probe what life may exist in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.

This year, a U.S. expedition said they had seen living cells under a microscope in field samples taken from the shallower subglacial Lake Whillans, but more study is needed to determine what kinds of bacteria they are and how they live.

A British effort to reach a third body, Lake Ellsworth, was called off in December because of problems drilling.

What life is found in the icy depths may provide the best answer yet to whether life can exist in the extreme conditions on Mars or Jupiter's moon Europa.

The Russian discovery came from analysing water that froze onto the end of the drill bit used to bore through to Vostok - the largest of a network of hundreds of lakes under the ice cap that acts like a blanket trapping the Earth's geothermal heat.

Bulat and other members of Russia's Antarctic mission could not be reached for comment to Reuters on Thursday.

But Bulat told RIA that scientists are waiting for more samples from the lake to confirm their discovery.

Because of the technology used to keep from polluting the pristine lake, Russia will only obtain clean water samples - uncontaminated by drilling fluid - for analysis later this year.

To answer concerns kerosene and anti-freeze from the borehole would seep into the lake, Russian engineers withdrew the drill to allow the water to percolate up into the borehole and freeze there, only returning this year to collect it.

But Bulat said the unknown microbes were found after separating out species of bacteria that are known to exist in the drilling fluid.

"When we tried to identify the DNA, it did not coincide with any of known species. It's degree of similarity was less than 86 percent," Bulat told RIA.

"That is practically zero when working with DNA. A level of 90 percent tells us the organism is unknown."

Frozen samples from deeper in the borehole collected during this year's Antarctic summer season in February are now being carried back by boat and are due in St Petersburg in May.

"If we again identify the same group of organism in that pure sample of water, then we can confidently say we have found new life on Earth," Bulat said.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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Space agency ends attempt to contact Russian probe (AP)

MOSCOW – The European Space Agency said Friday it has abandoned efforts to contact a rogue Russian space probe, increasing the likelihood it will plunge to Earth.

The unmanned Phobos-Ground probe was to head to the Mars moon of Phobos on a 2 1/2-year mission to take soil samples and fly them back to Earth. But the probe became stuck in Earth orbit after its Nov. 9 launch and attempts to send commands that could propel it toward the Mars moon have been unsuccessful.

ESA said in a statement that although the agency has halted efforts to contact the probe, it will resume if any changes are reported by the Russian space agency.

A spokesman for the Paris-based ESA told The Associated Press that Russia was going to continue to try to contract the probe over the weekend; he spoke on condition he not be named. Russian space officials could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Russian deputy space chief Vitaly Davydov said last month that if the spacecraft is not sent to Mars, it could fall to Earth sometime between late December and late February.

The failed spacecraft is 13.2 metric tons (14.6 tons); most of that weight, about 11 metric tons (12 tons), is highly toxic fuel. Experts say that if the fuel has frozen, some could survive the plummet to Earth, but that if it is liquid it will likely combust from the heat of re-entering the atmosphere.

The mission was planned to reach Mars orbit next September and land on Phobos in February 2013.

Scientists hoped that studies of the Phobos soil would help solve the mystery of its origin and shed more light on the genesis of the solar system. Some believe that the crater-dented moon is an asteroid captured by Mars' gravity, while others think it's a piece of debris resulting from Mars' collision with another celestial object.

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Online:

ESA website http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_eu/storytext/eu_russia_mars_mission/43786367/SIG=10k9t67oj/*http://www.esa.int

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Associated Press writer Sarah DiLorenzo contributed to this story from Paris.

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Russian President Threatens Punishment for Recent Space Blunders (SPACE.com)

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has threatened to dole out strict punishments to officials responsible for a string of recent failures in the country's space program, according to news reports.

Medvedev threatened disciplinary action, heavy fines or even criminal penalties for the country's recent space woes, which have included a series of rocket crashes and lost spacecraft over the past 11 months, according to the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

"The latest failures [in the space industry] seriously harm Russia's competitiveness," Medvedev said on Nov. 26, according to Ria Novosti. "This means that we need to conduct a serious analysis and punish those responsible."

The country's most recent blunder stranded a spacecraft in orbit around Earth, instead of sending it on its intended path toward Mars. The Phobos-Grunt probe was designed to collect samples from the Martian moon Phobos, but shortly after its launch on Nov. 8, the spacecraft's thrusters failed to fire in a maneuver that would have set it on course for the Red Planet.

An international effort is underway to rescue the $165 million mission, but flight controllers at the Russian Federal Space Agency and the European Space Agency have been struggling to regain contact with the probe, and time is quickly running out. [Photos: Russia's Mars Moon Mission]

The notoriously tight-lipped Russian Federal Space Agency has remained guarded about the status of Phobos-Grunt, which has fueled speculation that the possibility of saving the spacecraft or the mission is unlikely.

If the problem with Phobos-Grunt cannot be resolved, the vehicle will likely fall back to Earth sometime in mid-January, scientists have said. Phobos-Grunt is the 19th spacecraft Russia has launched toward Mars since 1960. None has achieved full mission success.

The Russian space program has also suffered four rocket failures within the past year, adding to the troubles.

In December 2010, three navigation satellites were lost after a Russian Proton rocket failed before it reached orbit. A military satellite and a communications satellite were also lost in two separate rocket malfunctions.

In August, a Soyuz rocket carrying a robotic cargo ship suffered a malfunction minutes after launch in what was a rare mishap for the typically reliable fleet of Soyuz boosters. The rocket and the Progress 44 cargo freighter crashed in Siberia and were destroyed.

Investigations into the accident traced the problem to a faulty gas generator in the rocket's third stage, and spaceflight operations were temporarily halted until the issue was resolved.

On Oct. 30, a Progress 45 cargo ship was successfully launched to the International Space Station, and a manned launch carrying three new crewmembers for the orbiting complex followed almost two weeks later.

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Russian President Medvedev Promises Punishment for Space Mishaps (ContributorNetwork)

According to Space.com, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is threatening to punish officials who are judged to be responsible for a series of space mishaps that have embarrassed that country's space effort.

What are some of the mishaps that have plagued the Russian space program?

The most recent accident concerned Russia's ambitious attempt to send a probe, dubbed Phobos-Grunt, to the Martian moon Phobos to take soil and rock samples and return them to Earth. Phobos-Grunt was stuck in low Earth orbit, having failed to executed a pair of rocket firings that would have sent it on a trajectory toward Mars.

In August, a Russian Progress spacecraft that carrying supplies to the International Space Station suffered a failure of its Soyuz rocket and instead of going to the ISS crashed into Siberia, according to Space.com. The mishap resulted in serious doubts about the ability of the Russians to provide transportation services for both cargo and humans, leading to the possibility that the ISS would have to be abandoned. However the Russians were able to find the cause of the glitch that had destroyed the Progress and have since been able to launch both a Progress cargo mission and a manned Soyuz to the ISS.

Why is Medvedev contemplating punitive action?

Russia clearly sees space travel as an expression of a country that expires to be a super power. It has had this attitude ever since the early space program, when the old Soviet Union was able to accomplish a series of space spectaculars, including Sputnik, the first Earth satellite, and the flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in low Earth orbit. More recently, with the end of the space shuttle program, the Russian Space Agency boasted that the world had entered into the "Age of Soyuz" with America being forced to rely on Russia for trips to the ISS. There was even a dig at the fact that the Americans had lost two space shuttles, the Challenger and Columbia, with the boast of how reliable the Soyuz was. This form of chest pounding has come back to haunt the Russians in view of the Progress and Phobos-Grunt failures.

What does Medvedev propose to do to people he finds responsible for Russian space failures?

Reuters reports that the Russian president, perhaps in a fit of whimsy, has promised that they would not be stood up against a wall and shot, as was the practice in Josef Stalin's time. But criminal penalties, including imprisonment and fines, as well as administrative penalties are on the table.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker . He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the LA Times, and The Weekly Standard.

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Russian Rocket Failure Shouldn’t Force Space Station Evacuation, NASA Tells Lawmakers (SPACE.com)

The International Space Station likely won't have to be evacuated despite the recent failure of a Russian rocket launched toward the orbiting lab, a panel told U.S. lawmakers today (Oct. 12) on Capitol Hill.

On Aug. 24, Russia's Progress 44 cargo vessel crashed in Siberia after the third stage of its Soyuz rocket failed. That rocket is similar to the one NASA and other space agencies depend on to loft astronauts, raising doubts about whether the issue could be fixed in time for a new crew to get to the station before its three remaining residents depart for Earth on Nov. 22.

A Russian commission recently pinpointed the Soyuz problem as a quality-control issue, not a major design flaw. And an independent NASA team agrees with that assessment, officials announced today, meaning the next manned Soyuz launch should take place as planned on Nov. 14. [Photos: Russia's Lost Cargo Ship Progress 44]

That time frame would keep the orbiting outpost staffed, giving the new three-person crew about five days to learn the ropes from the departing space flyers.

"NASA's confident that our Russian partners identified the most likely failure cause and has a sound return-to-flight plan," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, told members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Fixing the problem

The Russian investigation determined that low fuel feed to the gas generator in the Soyuz's third-stage engine likely caused the Progress 44 crash. The fuel feed issue may have been caused by contamination in the fuel line or a valve.

After consulting in depth with the Russians, NASA formed its own team to look into the Soyuz problem, Gerstenmaier said.

"They did kind of a background check to make sure that the conclusions the Russians were drawing were reasonable," Gerstenmaier said. "We completed that review today within the agency, and we agree with the basic Russian findings."

Since the Progress 44 incident, the Russians have boosted their quality-control efforts, Gerstenmaier added. For example, they've increased the number of people inspecting Soyuz rockets and are videotaping some key assembly operations at the factory.

The engines for the next two Soyuz launches — the unmanned Progress 45 cargo mission on Oct. 30 and the Nov. 14 crewed mission — were built under the newer, stricter oversight, Gerstenmaier said. [Vote Now! The Best Spaceships of All Time]

So the problem that doomed Progress 44 shouldn't crop up again, the panelists said.

"We're confident that the two launches anticipated — one of Progress and the Soyuz launch, hopefully, in mid-November — will put the current issues to rest and return us to a steady-state operation," said Joseph Dyer, chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

Station could operate without a crew

When it's fully crewed, the International Space Station (ISS) harbors six astronauts, who each stay aboard for five- or six-month stints. It currently hosts just three space flyers, and the next Soyuz launch would basically replenish this number rather than increase it.

If that launch gets delayed, the station would be completely de-staffed for the first time in more than a decade. But that wouldn't spell disaster for the orbiting lab, the panelists said.

"The station itself can be flown uncrewed from Mission Control," Gerstenmaier said.

Of course, NASA and its international partners would much prefer to keep the orbiting lab fully staffed. Crew members on board can fix maintenance or servicing issues that crop up, for example, which can't be done from the ground.

And with more crew members aboard the station, more scientific research can get done. On a fully de-staffed station, some experiments could go on as before, such as the recently installed $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which is hunting dark matter, antimatter and cosmic rays.

But many other projects would have to be dropped, or at least postponed, without astronauts on board to conduct them. And NASA hopes it doesn't come to that, officials have said.

"If the ISS needed to be de-crewed, the largest impact would obviously be to crew-tended research," Gerstenmaier said.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Russian Space Oddity: Ground Control to Colonel Gaddafi (Time.com)

When the U.S. and France asked Russia last month to help mediate the war in Libya, they were probably not expecting a self-proclaimed emissary of alien life to show up in Tripoli for a meeting with Muammar Gaddafi. But on Sunday evening, as NATO air strikes continued on the Libyan capital, the besieged Colonel took the time to entertain a Russian politician named Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, best known for his claims that extraterrestrials took him on a mystical tour of the galaxy in their spaceship in 1997. Far from convincing Gaddafi to step down, the visit seemed geared toward giving him a confidence boost - and an unlikely lesson in the game of kings.

For the past 15 years, Ilyumzhinov has also presided over the world chess federation, known as FIDE, which makes him the first head of an international body to meet with Gaddafi since the U.N.-backed bombing campaign against him began in March. In a video shown on Libyan television on Sunday night, Ilyumzhinov praises Gaddafi's resilience. "It's a great honor for me to be here to see that you are very well, healthy, because many people... gave wrong information," he said in stilted English. (See what mediating in Libya could cost Medvedev.)

The two men then played a rather awkward game of chess. Allowed the first move, Gaddafi made a clumsy opening, nervously moving his pawn from F3 to F4, and Ilyumzhinov took the piece and moved it back for him. The game ended in a draw and a handshake for the cameras, after which Ilyumzhinov told reporters that Gaddafi had promised never to leave Libya, regardless of the West's support for the rebels battling to overthrow him. The two-hour chat, Ilyumzhinov said, was held not in an underground bunker, where many western experts had presumed Gaddafi to be hiding, but in "one of the administrative buildings in the Libyan capital."

The two-day visit, billed as an attempt to promote chess in Libya, had a clear diplomatic tint that seemed at cross-purposes with Russia's much-touted drive to mediate an end to Libyan conflict. On May 27, U.S. President Barack Obama asked his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev to help convince Gaddafi to cede power. The next week, Medvedev dispatched his Africa envoy, Mikhail Margelov, who told a news conference in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi on June 7 that Gaddafi must step down, as he "has lost his legitimacy after the first bullet shot against the Libyan people." But last week, Margelov returned to Moscow without ever meeting with Gaddafi.

Ilyumzhinov has now beaten him to it, a move that would have been unlikely, given its geopolitical significance, without at least tacit approval from the Kremlin. On Monday, Margelov, the Africa envoy, said he had discussed Ilyumzhinov's trip to Libya with him beforehand. "I advised him to play white, start with E2 to E4, and let Gaddafi know that his match is approaching the endgame," Margelov said on Monday. (See "Medvedev's Improbable Mission: Mediating Peace with Gaddafi.")

But if anything, Ilyumzhinov gave Gaddafi some badly needed encouragement, much as he had done by praising Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. In an October interview with TIME, Ilyumzhinov said Hussein had been "a dear friend" whom he sorely missed, and he went on to denounce the West for pushing its values onto other countries - a very popular view among the Russian public and much of Moscow's political elite. "The western man is primitive in his thinking," Ilyumzhinov said. "If something doesn't fit into his scheme, even if it is an idea that is new and useful, it is easier to write it off as corrupt or insane."

Ilyumzhinov served as the head of the Russian republic of Kalmykia between 1993 and 2010. Four years into his tenure, which was stained by frequent allegations of corruption and mismanagement, he began to claim that he had been kidnapped by aliens who taught him how to save mankind from certain destruction. The planet Earth, he told TIME in October, was set to collide with the planet Nebiru, killing everyone on the planet, unless people cleansed their "aura" by playing more chess. The game would also allow humans to regain the powers of teleportation and telekinesis, which ancient civilizations possessed, Ilyumzhinov says.

None of his eccentricities, however, ever seemed to hurt his standing with the Kremlin. In 2005, then-President Vladimir Putin appointed Ilyumzhinov to another five-year term as the leader of Kalmykia, a poor and mostly Buddhist region in southern Russia, and Ilyumzhinov has been a dogged Putin ally ever since. In 2010, Ilyumzhinov struck a deal with the Kremlin to leave office, and was rewarded with Russia's support for his bid to get re-elected as the head of FIDE last year. (See photos of the battle for Libya.)

In his interview with TIME, he said he preferred the FIDE presidency to his governor's seat, because it was a global platform that allowed him to travel the world and meet with world leaders. "FIDE is very helpful in getting my messages across," he said. At the time, Ilyumzhinov was referring to the messages he says he learned from extraterrestrials. But on Sunday, his role as FIDE president allowed him to send the world another message: Gaddafi still has a few friends left on this planet and the Libyan strongman had no intention of giving up power. For the western powers eager to see Gaddafi deposed, it may have been better if Ilyumzhinov had stuck to his work on intergalactic conflicts and stayed clear of the earthly ones now unfolding in North Africa.

See TIME's special report: "The Middle East in Revolt."

See Yuri Kozyrev's multimedia presentation, "On Revolution Road."

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Soyuz heads to ISS carrying Russian, US, Japanese astronauts (AFP)

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) – A Soyuz spacecraft lifted off on Tuesday with a Russian, a US and a Japanese astronaut aboard headed for the International Space Station (ISS).

The spacecraft carrying American Mike Fossum, Russian Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan lifted off at about 2012 GMT from the launchpad at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

"The flight is normal," the control centre told the international crew.

The three will join Russians Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko and American Ronald Garan aboard the ISS where they will spend the next half year.

Fossum is a veteran of two shuttle flights while Volkov has already had one stint aboard the ISS in 2008. Furukawa is making his first space flight.

The spacecraft is scheduled to hook up with the ISS on Thursday at 2122 GMT.

The launch comes just a month before NASA is scheduled to launch the space shuttle for the last time before it is taken out of service.

After the flight by the space shuttle Atlantis, Russia's Soyuz launch system -- whose basic design has changed little since the dawn of human space flight -- will become the sole means for transporting humans to the ISS.

It is expected to be some years before NASA introduces a replacement for the Soyuz.

The extra pressure on the space programme coincides with a time of turbulence at Russia's space agency, which saw its long-serving head Anatoly Perminov fired by the government after a string of failures.

The Soyuz launch is Russia's first manned space flight under new Roskosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin after Perminov's sacking in April.

Popovkin faces the task of reforming an agency still reeling one of from its most embarrassing space failures in recent times in December when three navigation satellites crashed into the ocean instead of reaching orbit.

This and other technical issues cast a shadow on the 50th anniversary year in 2011 of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight, still celebrated in Russia as one of its greatest achievements.

Russia is now using a new version of the Soyuz spacecraft that has been the lynchpin of Moscow's space programme over the last decades.

The new spacecraft has a new onboard movement control and navigation system as well as a new onboard measuring system.

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Russian Soyuz Launches New Space Station Crew Into Orbit (SPACE.com)

This story was updated at 4:38 p.m. EDT.

Three spaceflyers are on their way to the International Space Station, after launching toward the orbiting complex today (June 7) in a Russian-made Soyuz capsule.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), are set to become the newest space station residents, and will live and work at the orbiting outpost for roughly five-and-a-half months.

Fossum, Volkov and Furukawa blasted off at 4:12 p.m. EDT (2012 GMT) from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio is riding in a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft, which is the second generation of the upgraded digital Soyuz capsule that was modified to fix computer console display glitches that popped up during the design's first flight. [Video: Soyuz Blasts Off to Space Station]

"We feel great, and everything is nominal onboard," Volkov reported shortly after liftoff.

The international crew is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Thursday (June 9) at 5:22 p.m. EDT (2122 GMT) after a two-day orbital journey. The spacecraft will dock at the Russian Rassvet mini research module.

"Congratulations on a successful launch. Congratulations from the bottom of my heart," a Russian flight controller radioed to Volkov, the Soyuz commander.

Rounding out the station crew

Fossum, Volkov and Furukasa will join three others who have been living at the space station since April – NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko – to round out the station's Expedition 28 mission. [Amazing Photos by Astronaut Ron Garan]

Garan, Samokutyaev and Borisenko are scheduled to return to Earth in September. At that time, Fossum will assume command of the station from Borisenko to begin the Expedition 29 mission.

During their time at the space station, the new crewmembers will perform a wide variety of research and experiments. For example, Furukawa plans to grow cucumbers in microgravity to study how future space explorers can harvest their own food on longer missions that push further out into the solar system.

The astronauts will also be the subject of medical and life sciences experiments that examine how the human body adapts and changes over the course of long-duration missions in space. The crewmembers will be monitored for bone loss, muscle health, and their aerobic and cardiovascular health will be measured over time.

"Just being there we are an experiment," Fossum said in a preflight interview. "All of those three things, the bone health, muscle health and cardiovascular health, are really important just for long-term health of astronauts and very important to maintain that health as some day we venture beyond low Earth orbit and go to Mars.

Busy time in space

Fossum is making his third spaceflight. A veteran of two previous space shuttle missions, he has already logged more than 26 days in space. Volkov, a second-generation cosmonaut, completed his first stint at the space station in 2008. During that time, he spent 199 days in space and performed two spacewalks. Furukawa, a surgeon, is making his first spaceflight.

Today's Soyuz launch came less than a week after NASA's space shuttle Endeavour landed to end the agency's second-to-last shuttle mission. Endeavour touched down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 1 at the conclusion of its 16-day visit to the International Space Station. [Photos of Space Shuttle Endeavour's Last Landing]

The Expedition 28 crew will host the final mission of NASA's space shuttle program, the STS-135 flight of Atlantis, which is scheduled to launch July 8. Atlantis' flight will wrap up the agency's 30-year shuttle program, making way for NASA to focus on developing spacecraft to explore beyond low-Earth orbit.

You can follow SPACE.com Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Russian spacecraft blasts off for space station (AP)

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan – A Russian Soyuz craft lit up the starry skies of the southern Kazakh steppe early Wednesday as it blasted off to carry a three-man crew for a mission to the International Space Station that will take in the U.S. shuttle's farewell voyage.

Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, NASA's Michael Fossum, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency will spend almost two days squeezed into the cramped Soyuz capsule before docking with the space station, where they will remain until mid-November.

By being present on the space station as the shuttle performs its final voyage, Fossum and fellow NASA astronaut Ron Garan will play leading roles in the closing act of the program.

"They're going to be very proud to be part of the last shuttle dock mission. It's obviously going to be a sad time for all of us to see the end of the program," said NASA colleague Jeff Williams, who accompanied Fossum's family during their stay in Baikonur.

Overnight, however, all attention was on the spectacle of the simple and powerful Soyuz performing its duties.

At 2:15 a.m Wednesday (2015 GMT Tuesday), the ferocious roar of rockets echoed around the desolate expanses of the Russian-leased Baikonur space launch site as the Soyuz capsule was propelled into heavens, delighting the astronauts' families, friends and colleagues.

Furukawa gave a thumbs-up sign as the rocket charged into low orbit at speeds approaching 14,000 miles per hour (23,000 kilometers per hour), and a soft toy began to float, indicating zero gravity.

"We feel just great," Volkov said in answer to a question from mission control outside Moscow.

Within seconds, the phosphorous white intensity of the heavens above the Central Asian plains faded and the Soyuz blended into the stars.

Among the spectators at the viewing platform was JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who last year also did a six-month stint on the space station. Speaking after the launch, he said Furukawa's mission could serve to lift his country's spirits after the earthquake that earlier this year devastated swathes of Japan.

"Now in Japan, there is not a lot of good news around, but I hope that by seeing Satoshi going up, the young people can feel they have a better future," Noguchi said.

Upon docking at the station, the crew will join the current station members — Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev.

This is the second run for the upgraded digital model of the Soyuz, which has served as the workhorse of the Russian space program for decades.

While aboard the ISS, the team will witness the final mission of the U.S. shuttle, with NASA retiring the 30-year program after Atlantis flies on July 8.

The mothballing of the shuttle evokes a palpable sense of melancholy among U.S. space professionals, and a comparable degree of pride among Russians, who will be picking up the slack.

"Where five years ago we were launching just two (manned) craft every year, as of last year, we have started launching four crafts," said Sergei Krikalyov, who heads Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center.

Patrick Buzzard, NASA's representative to Russia, said the two countries have relied on one another over the recent history of space exploration and that nothing was set to change.

"It is such a strong partnership and we have these capabilities that everyone brings to the table. That makes it a more robust program," Buzzard said.

While NASA devises ways to replace its shuttle fleet, the privately run California-based space transportation company SpaceX is developing the Dragon craft that NASA hopes could offer it another, possibly less costly, alternative.

The $56 million price that the Russian Space Agency charges NASA to send up astronauts is set to go up to $63 million per passenger from 2014. A recent contract extension with the agency totaled $753 million and covered trips for a dozen NASA astronauts from 2014 through 2016.

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