Soyuz launched to bring 3 more crew to ISS (Roundup)

Moscow - The three astronauts aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule launched Wednesday from the Baikonur centre in Kazakhstan reported that all was well as they headed toward the International Space Station (ISS). Russian television reported that the launching took place as scheduled at 1034 GMT. The Soyuz, carrying astronauts from Belgium, Canada and Russia, is to dock with the ISS at 1236 GMT on Friday. They will join three other astronauts already on board the station, making it the largest- ever crew on the ISS. The three new astronauts are Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium. They will joint current ISS residents Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, Michael Barratt of the US and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Next fall, De Winne is due to become the first ESA astronaut to assume command of the ISS. The astronauts on the Soyuz capsule were reported to be in good spirits. 'Everything is fine on board. Everything is going well,' the Interfax news agency quoted Russian cosmonaut Romanenko as saying. The current ISS crew meanwhile was preparing work stations and sleeping arrangements in anticipation of the arrival of the others. The expansion of the crew to six astronauts, after 10 years of ISS construction, will allow crew members to triple the amount of time they devote to science experiments on board. Two Russian spacewalks are scheduled for the crew during June. The full occupancy of the ISS marks the first time since its founding in 1998 that the five partners - Russia, the US, Europe, Canada and Japan - were represented at the same time. The cramped quarters also hails the end of space tourism. At the end of March, US billionaire Charles Simonyi was the last space tourist to visit the station. The ISS, a flying laboratory for research projects in science and industry, is the largest and most expensive technology project of all time.