Soyuz Heads to Space Station
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ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A manned Soyuz rocket blasted off from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today, headed for the International Space Station, Russia’s Mission Control said.
“The Soyuz-TMA booster rocket lifted as planned.... Everything is fine,” a spokesman said.
The launch of the rocket, which was originally scheduled for Monday, was delayed after the fatal explosion of a Soyuz cargo rocket of a similar type shortly after takeoff from Russia’s Arctic Plesetsk cosmodrome Oct. 15.
Russian space officials said the explosion was caused by a foreign object in the rocket’s engine. It has not been determined how it got there.
On their 12-day mission, the two Russians and one Belgian aboard the Soyuz-TMA are to replace a rescue capsule at the space station, currently operated by two Russians and an American.
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