spacetoday.net: Soyuz launches next ISS crew

Posted: Mon, Apr 19, 2004, 10:28 AM ET (1428 GMT)
Soyuz launch (Energia file photo)

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying the next long-duration crew for the International Space Station lifted off early Monday. The Soyuz booster lifted off at 11:19 pm EDT Sunday (0319 GMT Monday), despite a late winter storm that brought freezing temperatures and over ten centimeters of snow to Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan over the weekend. The Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS around 1 am EDT (0500 GMT) Wednesday. On board the spacecraft is the Expedition 9 crew of Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke, as well as ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers from the Netherlands. Kuipers will return to Earth April 29 in the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft currently docked to ISS, along with the Expedition 9 crew of Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri, who have been on the station for the last six months. Padalka and Fincke are also scheduled to spend six months on ISS.