A rocket carrying the next humans to live and work on theInternational Space Station (ISS) punched smoothly into space during thesuccessful launch of the ninth expedition to the orbital outpost.

Despite the odd appearance of a weekend snowstorm, the firsttime in 20 years the stuff fell in April at the Baikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan, a Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft safely delivered the two-person crew ofExpedition 9 and a European astronaut into Earth orbit.

The launch appeared flawless, leaving Earth on time at 11:19p.m. April 18 EDT (0319 April 19 GMT) from the same launch pad used by Russiancosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in his historic 1961 flight to become the first human inspace.

It took about 10 minutes for Expedition 9 crewmembersGennady Padalka and Michael Fincke, joined by Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers ofthe European Space Agency (ESA), to escape the bonds of Earth. The threespacefarers will spend the next two days catching up to the ISS, with dockingscheduled for about 1:00 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT) April 21.

Its just great to see this crew launch and have greatweather, said NASA ISS program manager William Gerstenmaier, who was onhandfor Expedition 9s liftoff. Its neat to see the continued human presence onthe station.

Padalka, a veteran Russian cosmonaut who spent 198 daysaboard Mir space station in 1999, will serve as Soyuz and Expedition 9commander. Fincke, a NASA astronaut, is the missions flight engineer and NASAScience Officer. Together the two will spend six months aboard ISS conductingscience experiments, station maintenance and two spacewalks. Padalka and Finckewill relieve the current ISS crew, Expedition 8s Michael Foale and AlexanderKaleri, upon arriving at the station later this week.

A critical goal of the Expedition 9 spacewalks, NASAofficials said, is to prepare the ISS to receive the ESA-built AutonomousTransfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo ship in 2005. With three times the cargo capacityof the current Russian Progress supply ships, the ATV will allow the ability totransport more supplies and science materials to the space station.

A smooth ride

The weather was fine for Expedition 9s flight despite coldtemperatures of 36 degrees Fahrenheit (about 2.2 degrees Celsius), a gray,overcast morning and a snowstorm the day before liftoff.

The short ride into orbit was smooth enough for Fincke andhis crewmates to wave into onboard cameras just two minutes after liftoff astheir Soyuz rocket shed its first stage and ignited its second booster.

It took me a long time to breathe, seeing youre kidsitting on a ball of fire going into the heavens, said Edward Fincke, MichaelFinckes father, who watched his son rocket away from Earth. Talk about agraduation day.

Sundays launch was Michael Finckes first launch into spaceafter spending eight years training with NASA. Four of those years were spenttraining with Padalka as backup crews of other ISS expeditions. The two wereannounced as the crew of Expedition 9 in February 2004.

The flight is also a first for Kuipers, who is the firstDutch astronaut to visit the ISS. Under the Dutch Expedition for Life Science,Technology and Atmospheric Research (DELTA) mission, Kuipers will spend ninedays performing science experiments aboard the ISS before returning to Earth onApril 29 with Expedition 8s Foale and Kaleri.