Astronaut Scott Kelly blasts off on yearlong space station mission

U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, crew member of the mission to the International Space Station (ISS), gestures before the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (REUTERS/Dmitry Lovetsky/Pool)

Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft is seen at its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev)

Astronaut Scott Kelly has blasted off on his yearlong mission to the International Space Station.

The capsule carrying Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts was launched into space by a Soyuz-FG booster rocket, lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:42 p.m. ET.

The journey to the International Space Station is expected to take 6 hours.

Of the three-man team, American Scott Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko are to stay at the International Space Station until March 2016. Their trip is NASA's first stab at a one-year spaceflight, anticipating Mars expeditions that would last two-to-three years.

“This is an important step forward to start utilizing ISS more effectively in preparation for human missions to Mars,” Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, a non-profit organization which aims to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars, told FoxNews.com.  “We look forward to more ambitious missions at ISS and beyond that help achieve human landings on Mars in the 2030s.”

During his year orbiting the earth Kelly will take part in a landmark NASA study into the effects of space on the human body, with scientists comparing his data to that of twin brother Mark, a former astronaut, back on earth. Mark Kelly’s blood samples, exercise, and overall health will be monitored by scientists from 12 universities to gain insight into the impact of the yearlong mission on his brother.

At the end of his mission to the International Space Station, Scott Kelly will become the first American to spend 12 consecutive months in space.

Kelly and his Russian counterpart Kornienko have each already logged about 180 days in space, according to Space.com. Kelly has made three previous missions to space and Kornienko spent 6 months aboard the International Space Station in 2010.

Kornienko is the fifth Russian cosmonaut to undertake a one-year space mission.

The third member of the crew, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, will spend about 6 months on the International Space Station before returning to Earth.

Friday’s mission is Kelly’s second trip to the International Space Station. The former U.S. Navy pilot spent just over 5 months on the space station between October 2010 and March 2011.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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U.S.-Russian crew blasts off to space station

By Peter Leonard, Associated PressBAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — Two U.S. astronauts and a Russian crewmate blasted off successfully Wednesday on a mission to the International Space Station that will see the last ever shuttle visit to the orbiting lab.U.S. astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin lifted off in a Russian Soyuz rocket, its boosters lighting up the the starry nighttime sky over Central Asian steppe. Their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft is set to reach the station Friday.

The trio will be onboard the space station to see the final shuttle — the Endeavour — depart from its last planned mission to the lab in November before the fleet is finally retired.

Wheelock said he was saddened to see the shuttle go, but he described his mission as an exciting new start.

"Of course, it's a big change in our program ... but change is not always bad," Wheelock, who takes over as commander of Expedition 25 as soon as the current crew returns to Earth in about three months time, said at a pre-launch news conference.

With the shuttle being phased out, the venerable Soyuz will take over as the only means by which astronauts will be able to travel to the space station, which has raised some concern about over-reliance on the Soviet-designed craft.

A crowd of astronauts' relatives, space officials and others gasped with awe as they watched the rocket slowly dissapearing at a distance, leaving a ghostly white cloud behind. They broke into applause on announcement of the craft's successful entry into orbit nine minutes after the launch.

"That was probably one of the more beautiful launches I have ever seen," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said.

Shortly after, people at the launch pad saw the glittering dot of the space station quickly moving overhead in a rare coincidence.

Wednesday's liftoff marked a seminal landmark, being the hundredth flight in the station program.

Wheelock said their mission will be the first to take full advantage of the station's capacity as orbiting lab. He said he was particularly excited about the station's contributions to the engineering of new materials and its role in ensuring breakthroughs in medicine.

"We are finally getting to the point when we can use the International Space Station for its original purpose, and that is to do science and research," Byerly said after the launch.

Wheelock, a U.S. Army colonel, is returning to the space station for the first time since his two-week stint on the Discovery in late 2007, when he and his colleagues earned plaudits for their work repairing a power generation facility.

Walker is making her maiden trip to the space station, and thereby following in the footsteps of husband Andrew Thomas, one of a handful of U.S. astronauts to live onboard the old Russian Mir station in the 1990s.

Like other launches from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan, their mission followed a time-tested routine.

After being meticulously fitted for their pressure suits just past midnight, the crew received a final message of encouragement from space officials, including the head of the Russian space agency.

At the final salute before mounting the bus to the launching pad, a group of well-wishers greeted Walker with letters spelling out "Go Shannon!"

Before the bus engines started up, Yurchikhin's young daughter, Yelena, was held aloft and kissed her father through the glass.

At the pad, the astronauts sat, tightly bound into their seats in the rocket some two hours before the launch, while their family and colleagues anxiously waited at a viewing platform a little more than one kilometer away.

Against the backdrop of the starkly dim steppe, lights on the gantry holding up the Soyuz rocket shimmered on the the launch pad known as Gagarin's Pad. It is the site from which the Soviet Union sent off Yuri Gagarin in 1961 to become the first human in space.

In the hour before the launch, regular updates on the final preparations crackled out of speakers at the viewing platform.

When the time came, the rocket roared to life and gradually lifted off the ground before darting off into the heavens, dramatically turning the sky a shade of phosphorous white.

The three-person crew will join Russian commander Alexander Skvortskov, NASA flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko, who have been on the orbiting laboratory since April.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

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Astronaut trio blasts off for space station

The Russian Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft approaches the International Space Station for docking, June 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/NASA TV/Handout

By Shavkat Rakhmatullayev

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan | Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:17am EDT

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A Soyuz spacecraft blasted off for the International Space Station on Wednesday with a Russian, American and a Japanese astronaut on board.

The cramped Russian craft is to deliver cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and 53-year-old NASA astronaut Michael Fossum to the orbital station after a two-day voyage up from the Kazakh steppe.

Its booster rocket trailing a jet of flame in the night sky, the Soyuz TMA-02M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on schedule at 2:12 a.m. on Wednesday (2000 GMT on Tuesday).

Officials at Russian Mission Control outside Moscow congratulated the crew over the scratchy radio when the craft shed its rocket stages and safely reached orbit minutes later.

"We're feeling good," Volkov reported back to Earth as the ship ascended, a small toy pig named Nyusha that his son gave him as a mascot dangling above the crewmen crouched in their white spacesuits. "Everything is in order on board."

Fossum, a veteran of two spaceflights, waved to the camera.

Furukawa, 47, was in orbit for the first time, while Volkov, 38, is following in the footsteps of his father Alexander, who spent more than a year in space under the flag of the Soviet Union.

The trio is to spend six months on the station, a stint that will include the docking of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, which is to launch on July 8 on NASA's last planned shuttle mission before the fleet is retired.

Volkov, Furukawa and Fossum will be greeted upon arrival -- scheduled for 2022 GMT on Thursday -- by NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russians Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev, who have been aboard the station since April.

Volkov is to blog on the Russian space agency website from the station.

While Europe worries about a deadly E.coli outbreak blamed on raw vegetables, Volkov is to try growing cucumbers on the station and Furukawa tomatoes, they said at a pre-launch news conference, joking that they might make a salad.

The station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations, has been under construction about 220 miles above the earth since 1998. A football field-sized mix of mostly Russian and American-built modules, it can accommodate a crew of six.

But rides there are going to be harder to catch, and only Russia will be able to provide them.

With NASA mothballing its shuttle fleet, it will be at least four years before its astronauts can fly out of the United States again. Until new ships are ready, Russia will ferry crews to the station at a cost of more than $50 million per person.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov in Almaty; writing by Steve Gutterman and Alissa de Carbonnel; editing by Andrew Roche)

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Astronaut trio blasts off for space station (Reuters)

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters) – A Soyuz spacecraft blasted off for the International Space Station on Wednesday with a Russian, American and a Japanese astronaut on board.

The cramped Russian craft is to deliver cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and 53-year-old NASA astronaut Michael Fossum to the orbital station after a two-day voyage up from the Kazakh steppe.

Its booster rocket trailing a jet of flame in the night sky, the Soyuz TMA-02M lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on schedule at 2:12 a.m. on Wednesday (2000 GMT on Tuesday).

Officials at Russian Mission Control outside Moscow congratulated the crew over the scratchy radio when the craft shed its rocket stages and safely reached orbit minutes later.

"We're feeling good," Volkov reported back to Earth as the ship ascended, a small toy pig named Nyusha that his son gave him as a mascot dangling above the crewmen crouched in their white spacesuits. "Everything is in order on board."

Fossum, a veteran of two spaceflights, waved to the camera.

Furukawa, 47, was in orbit for the first time, while Volkov, 38, is following in the footsteps of his father Alexander, who spent more than a year in space under the flag of the Soviet Union.

The trio is to spend six months on the station, a stint that will include the docking of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, which is to launch on July 8 on NASA's last planned shuttle mission before the fleet is retired.

Volkov, Furukawa and Fossum will be greeted upon arrival -- scheduled for 2022 GMT on Thursday -- by NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russians Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyayev, who have been aboard the station since April.

Volkov is to blog on the Russian space agency website from the station.

While Europe worries about a deadly E.coli outbreak blamed on raw vegetables, Volkov is to try growing cucumbers on the station and Furukawa tomatoes, they said at a pre-launch news conference, joking that they might make a salad.

The station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations, has been under construction about 220 miles above the earth since 1998. A football field-sized mix of mostly Russian and American-built modules, it can accommodate a crew of six.

But rides there are going to be harder to catch, and only Russia will be able to provide them.

With NASA mothballing its shuttle fleet, it will be at least four years before its astronauts can fly out of the United States again. Until new ships are ready, Russia will ferry crews to the station at a cost of more than $50 million per person.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov in Almaty; writing by Steve Gutterman and Alissa de Carbonnel; editing by Andrew Roche)

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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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U.S.-Russian crew blasts off to space station

By Peter Leonard, Associated PressBAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — Two U.S. astronauts and a Russian crewmate blasted off successfully Wednesday on a mission to the International Space Station that will see the last ever shuttle visit to the orbiting lab.U.S. astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin lifted off in a Russian Soyuz rocket, its boosters lighting up the the starry nighttime sky over Central Asian steppe. Their Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft is set to reach the station Friday.

The trio will be onboard the space station to see the final shuttle — the Endeavour — depart from its last planned mission to the lab in November before the fleet is finally retired.

Wheelock said he was saddened to see the shuttle go, but he described his mission as an exciting new start.

"Of course, it's a big change in our program ... but change is not always bad," Wheelock, who takes over as commander of Expedition 25 as soon as the current crew returns to Earth in about three months time, said at a pre-launch news conference.

With the shuttle being phased out, the venerable Soyuz will take over as the only means by which astronauts will be able to travel to the space station, which has raised some concern about over-reliance on the Soviet-designed craft.

A crowd of astronauts' relatives, space officials and others gasped with awe as they watched the rocket slowly dissapearing at a distance, leaving a ghostly white cloud behind. They broke into applause on announcement of the craft's successful entry into orbit nine minutes after the launch.

"That was probably one of the more beautiful launches I have ever seen," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said.

Shortly after, people at the launch pad saw the glittering dot of the space station quickly moving overhead in a rare coincidence.

Wednesday's liftoff marked a seminal landmark, being the hundredth flight in the station program.

Wheelock said their mission will be the first to take full advantage of the station's capacity as orbiting lab. He said he was particularly excited about the station's contributions to the engineering of new materials and its role in ensuring breakthroughs in medicine.

"We are finally getting to the point when we can use the International Space Station for its original purpose, and that is to do science and research," Byerly said after the launch.

Wheelock, a U.S. Army colonel, is returning to the space station for the first time since his two-week stint on the Discovery in late 2007, when he and his colleagues earned plaudits for their work repairing a power generation facility.

Walker is making her maiden trip to the space station, and thereby following in the footsteps of husband Andrew Thomas, one of a handful of U.S. astronauts to live onboard the old Russian Mir station in the 1990s.

Like other launches from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan, their mission followed a time-tested routine.

After being meticulously fitted for their pressure suits just past midnight, the crew received a final message of encouragement from space officials, including the head of the Russian space agency.

At the final salute before mounting the bus to the launching pad, a group of well-wishers greeted Walker with letters spelling out "Go Shannon!"

Before the bus engines started up, Yurchikhin's young daughter, Yelena, was held aloft and kissed her father through the glass.

At the pad, the astronauts sat, tightly bound into their seats in the rocket some two hours before the launch, while their family and colleagues anxiously waited at a viewing platform a little more than one kilometer away.

Against the backdrop of the starkly dim steppe, lights on the gantry holding up the Soyuz rocket shimmered on the the launch pad known as Gagarin's Pad. It is the site from which the Soviet Union sent off Yuri Gagarin in 1961 to become the first human in space.

In the hour before the launch, regular updates on the final preparations crackled out of speakers at the viewing platform.

When the time came, the rocket roared to life and gradually lifted off the ground before darting off into the heavens, dramatically turning the sky a shade of phosphorous white.

The three-person crew will join Russian commander Alexander Skvortskov, NASA flight engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko, who have been on the orbiting laboratory since April.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.

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