Russia launches manned spacecraft to ISS

The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and US astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

ALMATY - Russia's Soyuz spacecraft with a crew of three astronauts blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Sunday morning for a four-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

The crew, comprising Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihito Hoshide, lifted with the Soyuz spacecraft on schedule at 0240 GMT.

The spacecraft had a very smooth ride into space, a spokesman for NASA said during a live broadcast on the agency's television channel.

After the capsule's docking with the orbital station on Tuesday, the trio will join the current ISS crew, including Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who have been in orbit since mid-May.

The previous Soyuz launch on May 15 was postponed for about two months after an air leak was found in the spacecraft's re-entry vehicle, but Sunday's launch went on as scheduled.

Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, said the most difficult part of the launch has been successfully implemented and the three crew members were feeling well.

On July 1, a Soyuz spacecraft brought home another three-member crew from ISS, namely Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, US astronaut Donald Pettit and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers.

After the retirement of the US shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz spacecraft is the only way for astronauts to reach the ISS at least until 2015.