russian rocket takes off for space station BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan...

russian rocket takes off for space station BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan Apr 15, 2005 — A Russian, an American and an Italian soared into space atop a Soyuz rocket Friday, greeting the dawn over the Central Asian steppes as they hurtled toward an orbital rendezvous with the International Space Station.

The spacecraft is expected to dock with the station Sunday, after which Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips will replace the crew. Their six months on the orbiting station will include welcoming the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster two years ago.

As the sun rose over Russia's base at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz-FG rocket soared into the sky on a plume of exhaust, colored pink, purple and orange by the dawn's rays. Engineers at Russian Mission Control outside Moscow applauded when an announcer confirmed the spacecraft had entered orbit.
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The arrival of Krikalev and Phillips signals the end of the six-month mission aboard the ISS for cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and astronaut Leroy Chiao. Along with Italian Roberto Vittori from the European Space Agency, they will return to Earth in 10 days.

Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov said the return scheduled for April 25 could be complicated by spring flooding in the steppes.

"I would not like it very much if the crew during the landing had to recall the survival lessons, which we give them in the ocean," Solovyov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Russia's space program has been the station's lifeline for two years, delivering fresh scientists and supplies. Next month, however, the new crew will welcome a space shuttle when NASA revives the program that was grounded after the Columbia disaster.

A tiny capsule that weighs only 7 tons has been the only way of getting astronauts to the station since the Columbia disintegrated as it returned to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003, sparking a suspension of shuttle flights.

A key task for Krikalev and Phillips will be to observe the condition of the insulating tiles as the Discovery approaches the station, conducting a photo survey of the exterior of the shuttle while it is maneuvering prior to docking.