Three astronauts were lofted into orbit amid heavy snowfall on Monday, on a mission to bring the crew of the International Space Station back to full strength.
The liftoff at 10:14 a.m. local time (11:14 p.m. ET) from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan came after a weeks-long delay, due to the crash of a Russian rocket that was carrying an unmanned cargo spaceship. That incident in August forced the Russians to review the safety of the similar Soyuz rocket model that is used for manned launches.
The U.S.-Russian crew is the first to enter orbit since NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July, heralding a period of several years when the space station's partners will have to rely solely on Russia to ferry crews.
Any problem with the launch could have left the space station empty for the first time in more than a decade when the current three-man crew returns to Earth later this month.
The launch came amid what NASA spokesman Rob Navias said was about half a foot (15 centimeters) of snow and "almost whiteout" conditions. Russian controllers said the launch could proceed despite the snow because winds at the launch site were within limits.
This marks the first voyage on board a Soyuz spacecraft for veteran NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, while cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov are making their maiden spaceflights.
The liftoff at 10:14 a.m. local time (11:14 p.m. ET) from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan came after a weeks-long delay, due to the crash of a Russian rocket that was carrying an unmanned cargo spaceship. That incident in August forced the Russians to review the safety of the similar Soyuz rocket model that is used for manned launches.
The U.S.-Russian crew is the first to enter orbit since NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July, heralding a period of several years when the space station's partners will have to rely solely on Russia to ferry crews.
Any problem with the launch could have left the space station empty for the first time in more than a decade when the current three-man crew returns to Earth later this month.
The launch came amid what NASA spokesman Rob Navias said was about half a foot (15 centimeters) of snow and "almost whiteout" conditions. Russian controllers said the launch could proceed despite the snow because winds at the launch site were within limits.
This marks the first voyage on board a Soyuz spacecraft for veteran NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, while cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Anton Shkaplerov are making their maiden spaceflights.
