Russia's Soyuz Blasts Off With New Crew for Space Station

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The Soyuz launcher carrying the Soyuz TMA spacecraft is erected on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will bring NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European astronaut Paolo Nespoli to the Int
Monday, December 20, 2010 The Soyuz launcher carrying the Soyuz TMA spacecraft is erected on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will bring NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European astronaut Paolo Nespoli to the International Space Station. (Image credit: ESA/S. Corvaja)

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft blastedoff to the InternationalSpace Station today (Dec. 15), launching three new crewmates to theorbitingoutpost.

The Soyuz TMA-20 took off fromBaikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan at 2:09 p.m. EST (1909 GMT) with NASA astronaut CatherineColeman,Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and European Space Agency (ESA)astronaut PaoloNespoli.

"The Soyuz: small but reliable. 8min30sec to Low Earthorbit & 48 hrs to catch-up with the ISS!" Nespoli wrote.

The Soyuz TMA-20 spaceflyers willmake up the remainder of thestation's Expedition 26 crew when they join the three astronautsalready livingonboard the orbiting outpost. Station commander ScottKelly of NASA and flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and OlegSkripochka ofRussia have been living at the station since early October.

Today's spaceflight is the third forColeman, the second forNespoli, and the first for Kondratyev.

"This is my first flight and I needto learn from myfriends everything on the station and get ready to be a commander forthesecond time, for second part of the mission, so that's quitechallenging forme, but I have support from all of my crew members so they understandand I thinkthere won't be any problems," Kondratyev said in a preflight interview.

Over the course of their mission,Coleman, Kondratyev andNespoli will oversee the arrival of two unmanned cargo supply ships ?one fromEurope and the other from Japan. They will also host two final spaceshuttlemissions before their retirement ? Discovery'sSTS-133, which is scheduled for early February, andEndeavour's STS-134,which is expected to fly in April.

"We'll do observations of the plantto figure out howit grows in space and on the ground," Nespoli told SPACE.com in apreflight interview. "It lets the kids see that even with simplethings,they can approach them with a scientific mentality and start thinkingin thatdirection. This is a great program that helps let people know that wecan usethe station in a lot of good ways."

Nespoli will also use ESA's novel 3-Dcamera to captureunprecedented imagesof the station.

"I'm excited about trying to somehowconvey theexperience of living in space back home," Coleman said in a preflightinterview. "I'm also going to bring my flute. I'll bring music that Icanlisten to and play at the same time. I'll also be blogging, videoblogging andtaking pictures. And I can't wait to look out the window."

SPACE.com will providecomplete coverage of theExpedition 26 crew's mission to the International Space Station. Click herefor mission updatesand launch updates. The Soyuz TMA-19 will dock at the station onFriday, Dec.17 at 3:12 p.m. EST.

You can follow SPACE.comStaff Writer Denise Chow onTwitter @denisechow.

Denise Chow
Denise Chow
NBC News science writer

Denise Chow is a former Space.com staff writer who then worked as assistant managing editor at Live Science before moving to NBC News as a science reporter, where she focuses on general science and climate change. She spent two years with Space.com, writing about rocket launches and covering NASA's final three space shuttle missions, before joining the Live Science team in 2013. A Canadian transplant, Denise has a bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto, and a master's degree in journalism from New York University. At NBC News, Denise covers general science and climate change.