spacetoday.net: Soyuz launches to ISS

Posted: Sun, Oct 12, 2008, 10:02 AM ET (1402 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-13 launch (RSC Energia)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two professional astronauts and one commercial passenger lifted off early Sunday on a flight to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft lifted off at 3:01 am EDT (0701 GMT) atop a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and entered orbit nine minutes later. On board the spacecraft are American astronaut Mike Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, members of the Expedition 18 crew on the ISS. Also on the Soyuz is Richard Garriott, the sixth space tourist to the fly to the station. The Soyuz will dock with the station early Tuesday. Garriott will return October 23 with current ISS crew members Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, while Fincke and Lonchakov will remain on the station for six months.