Three astronauts blast off for the Int'l Space Station in upgraded Soyuz craftBAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- Three astronauts blasted off into the early morning sky in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome Thursday, heading toward the International Space Station. The ISS space laboratory has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,400 miles per hour) since 1998. The trio's launch was delayed by two weeks as Russian space officials carried out further software tests on the modified vehicle. #AstroKate" the NASA Astronauts Twitter handle tweeted prior to her launch. Following docking at ISS, Rubins, Ivanishin and Onishi will join current ISS commander Jeff Williams of NASA and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin.

Source: The China Post July 07, 2016 16:18 UTC