Soyuz rocket launch gallery
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft. File picture
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012.
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012.
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012.
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012.
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams blasts off from its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (KAZAKHSTAN - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
International Space Station (ISS) crew member Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide waves after reporting to members of the State Committee before the launch of the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft at Baikonur cosmodrome July 15, 2012.
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
Image by: SHAMIL ZHUMATOV / REUTERS
A Russian Soyuz craft has launched into the morning skies over Kazakhstan carrying three astronauts on their way to the international space station.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japan's Akihito Hoshide will travel two days before reaching their three colleagues already at the permanent space outpost.
The space station, which orbits up to 410 kilometers above the earth, is bracing to handle an unprecedented level of traffic.
Japan's HTV3 cargo ship will dock with the space station next week and will be the first of nine craft making contact with the orbiting satellite over a 17-day span.
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