BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday
launched a crew of three to the 12-year-old Mir space station,
including a former adviser to President Boris Yeltsin, a space
official said.
A Proton rocket carrying a cramped Soyuz capsule lifted off
from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0943 GMT, and was
expected to dock on Saturday with the orbiting Mir, said an
official from the Russian Space Agency.
"The ascent is going smoothly," a Mission Control official
said in a radio communication to the crew shortly after lift
off.
The crew included lawyer Yuri Baturin, 49, a former defence
adviser to Yeltsin, and professional cosmonauts Gennady Padalka,
40, the crew commander, and flight engineer Sergei Avdeyev, 42.
Television footage from inside the capsule showed Baturin
during the launch dressed in a spacesuit and gripping a flight
manual. A lucky stuffed animal hung from the ceiling nearby.
"Everything is working according to plan, we feel well,"
Padalka said.
The former Kremlin adviser Baturin will make a comparatively
short visit, spending less than two weeks on Mir before
returning with the current crew of Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai
Budarin on August 25.
REUTERS ART PSF
Comments