Image: The Soyuz launch. Credit: NASA TV
A new crew blasted off for the International Space Station on Wednesday, aiming to restore the outpost to a full staff of six.
The station has been down to a skeleton crew for most of the past three months due to disruptions in the launch schedule following a Russian cargo ship failure in August. The Progress rocket's upper-stage engine that failed to fire, dooming a capsule of supplies for the station, is virtually identical to the one used on Russia's Soyuz rocket, which ferries crew to the station.
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Wednesday's launch proceeded without a hitch, the second Soyuz to fly since flights resumed after the accident.
Seated inside was a multinational crew of three, led by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who was making his second voyage into orbit. He was joined by NASA astronaut Don Pettit, a veteran of two previous missions to the space station, and Europe's Andre Kuipers, who has one previous spaceflight.
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The crew blasted off at 8:16 a.m. EST under frigid conditions at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They are scheduled to reach the station on Friday.
During their six-month stint, the crew will oversee the arrival of several cargo ships, including the first by U.S. commercial companies. Space Exploration Technologies is scheduled to make a trial run to the station in February.
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