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BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan – A Russian rocket with a U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts onboard blasted off successfully early Friday for the International Space Station, with flame-haired Russian spy Anna Chapman making an unexpected appearance at the cosmodrome to wave them goodbye.
The Soyuz TMA-01M was launched at the scheduled time of 5:10 a.m. (2310 GMT) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the vast steppe of southern Kazakhstan.
The crew's relatives and supporters cheered when the Soyuz engines roared and the spaceship lifted off in a blaze of orange flames, making the ground shudder. Russian engineers hugged and kissed one another after the craft shed its first stage and it became clear the launch was a success.
Mike Suffredini, head of NASA's space station program who watched the launch from an observation point with his Russian counterparts, gave his thumbs-up to the launch: "You can hear it all the way up."
Scott Kelly and Russia's Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka are due to reach the orbiting laboratory in two days to begin their five-month mission. They will join two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut who have been at the station since June.
Chapman, who has avoided the public and the press since being deported from the United States in July, appeared at the farewell ceremony for the space crew. She told an Associated Press reporter that she had "just arrived" and refused to answer any questions.
She then walked hastily to a guarded guest house near the launch pad accompanied by a burly man who blocked her from reporters.
An official with Russia's space agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chapman was at Baikonur as an adviser to the president of FondServisBank. The bank works with space industry companies and was handing out awards, the official said.
The Soyuz TMA-01M was launched at the scheduled time of 5:10 a.m. (2310 GMT) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the vast steppe of southern Kazakhstan.
The crew's relatives and supporters cheered when the Soyuz engines roared and the spaceship lifted off in a blaze of orange flames, making the ground shudder. Russian engineers hugged and kissed one another after the craft shed its first stage and it became clear the launch was a success.
Mike Suffredini, head of NASA's space station program who watched the launch from an observation point with his Russian counterparts, gave his thumbs-up to the launch: "You can hear it all the way up."
Scott Kelly and Russia's Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka are due to reach the orbiting laboratory in two days to begin their five-month mission. They will join two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut who have been at the station since June.
Chapman, who has avoided the public and the press since being deported from the United States in July, appeared at the farewell ceremony for the space crew. She told an Associated Press reporter that she had "just arrived" and refused to answer any questions.
She then walked hastily to a guarded guest house near the launch pad accompanied by a burly man who blocked her from reporters.
An official with Russia's space agency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chapman was at Baikonur as an adviser to the president of FondServisBank. The bank works with space industry companies and was handing out awards, the official said.