Crew members: US astronaut Terry Virts (left) Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (centre) and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti |
◼ We have lift off! Russian rocket launches to deliver three new crew members to International Space Station - 260 miles above Earth - Daily Mail UK
A Russian rocket blasted off today to deliver three new crew members to the International Space Station - including Italy's first female astronaut.
Soyuz TMA-15M, holding incoming station commander Terry Virts, with the US space agency Nasa, left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan.
Also on board for the lift-off at 3am local time (Sunday 9pm GMT) was Soyuz commander Anton Shkaplerov, with the Russian Federal Space Agency.