BAIKONUR, KAZAKHSTAN: Sunita Williams the Indian – American Cosmonaut turned Astronaut took off from Baikanur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, along with fellow comonauts Yury Malenchenko of Russia and Akhihito Hoshide of Japan.
The time tested, Russian Soyuz craft launched this morning skies over Kazakhstan on Sunday, carrying three Cosmonauts on their way to the international space station, where they will quickly start preparing for a frenzy of incoming traffic.
Launch of the manned Soyuz TMA-05M Spacecraft occurred today, July 15th 2012, at 02:40 UTC from Baikonur. Onboard the Soyuz spacecraft Yuri Malenchenko, Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide were sitting, as they made their way towards the International Space Station to begin the Expedition 32 increment of their stay.
The Soyuz TMA-05M Spacecraft was boosted into space via the Soyuz-FG booster which is 49.5 meters tall and is powered by liquid oxygen and refined kerosene through four boosters, first stage and second stage otherwise known as rocket fuel.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japan’s Akihito Hoshide are set to travel two days before reaching their three colleagues already at the permanent space outpost.
Families and colleagues watched the launch from an observation platform in the Russian-leased cosmodrome in the dry southern steppes of this sprawling Central Asian nation.
Liftoff took place at the exact scheduled time of 8.40am local time (0240 GMT), sending a deafening roar as the craft gained height.
Despite withstanding intense G-force pressure, the three Cosmonauts looked relaxed in televised footage as they performed a series of routine operations.
The Soyuz jettisoned three rocket booster stages as it was propelled into orbit, which takes just over nine minutes.
At that stage, a doll given to Malenchenko as a mascot by his daughter and suspended over the three Cosmonauts floated out of view on television footage, indicating the craft had escaped the earth’s gravitational pull.
The shell that surrounds the capsule during the launch phase also peeled away, soaking the Cosmonauts in bright yellow sunshine pouring through the viewing hatches.
The solar arrays that deployed on the Soyuz after orbital entry will provide the craft with the power it needs during its two-day trip.
Williams, tightly squeezed into the cramped craft, gave a thumbs-up sign and waved to onboard cameras as Russian space agency chief Vladimir Popovkin congratulated the crew over radio control.
Malenchenko, who is piloting the Soyuz, is one of Russia’s most experienced Cosmonauts and is making his fifth voyage into space.
Williams, who was born in Euclid, Ohio, and raised in Massachusetts, is on her second mission and will further extend the record for the longest sojourn in space for a female astronaut. The 46-year old astronaut, who is of Indian-American heritage, spent 195 days at the space station in 2006-2007.
Sunday’s launch took place on the 37th anniversary of the landmark Apollo-Soyuz mission during which crafts from the United States and the Soviet Union docked in space, setting a precedent for scientific cooperation between the Cold War foes.
Williams said in a press conference ahead of the launch that the test mission laid the ground for a long-standing friendship and collaboration in the space program.
The Soyuz is schedule to dock Tuesday with the space station at 8.52am Moscow time (0452 GMT).
Russians Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and US astronaut Joseph Acaba, who make up the crew of Expedition 32, have been working at the space station since mid-May.
The space station, which orbits up to 410 kilometers (255 miles) above the earth, is braced to handle an unprecedented level of traffic.
Japan’s HTV3 cargo ship will dock with the space station next week and will be the first of nine craft making contact with the orbiting satellite over a 17-day span.
Expeditions 32 and the incoming Expedition 33 have 33 experiments planned for their stay at the orbiting laboratory.