BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — A U.S.-Russian space crew has blasted off successfully for the International Space Station.
The Russian Soyuz-TMA14M spacecraft lifted off as scheduled at 2:25 a.m. Friday from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan. It’s carrying NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore along with Russians Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova for a six-month stint at the station.
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The Soyuz entered a designated orbit about 10 minutes after the launch. It was due to dock at the orbiting outpost about six hours after the launch, joining an international crew of three currently manning the station.
Serova is making her first space mission, while Wilmore and Samokutyaev have already flown to space.
Serova is the first Russian woman to fly in space since 1997, and the fourth woman in the history of the Soviet and Russian space programs. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963.
Since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet in 2011, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have served as the only means to ferry crew to and from the space outpost, the latest cost being $71 million per seat.
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