Russia launched Soyuz on the space station

The crew of two Russians and an American on May 15 was launched on the International Space Station (ISS) with Soyuz FG boosters , from Russia's Baikonur Space Airport in Kazakhstan, according to AFP. .

The Soyuz TMA-04M leaves the launch pad at Russia's Baikonur Space Airport in Kazakhstan

Accordingly, the Soyuz FG missile carrying the Soyuz spacecraft TMA-04M left the launch pad at Baikonur at 9:00 am on May 15 (Kazakhstan time, 10 hours 1 minute on Vietnamese time), to catch early 2-day journey to the station.

According to the US Space and Aeronautics Agency (NASA), 10 minutes after leaving the launch pad, Soyuz TMA-04M has been in orbit, and the antenna and solar panel systems have also been deployed. .

On board are three astronauts, including: Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin (with the Russian Federal Space Agency - Roscosmos) and Joe Acaba (USA).

All three will go to ISS to join the 31st international ISS crew with three currently on the station, Donald Pettit (USA), Oleg Kononenko (Russia) and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers with commander Kononenko. .

According to NASA, three astronauts Pettit, Kononenko and Kuipers were put on orbit by Soyuz TMA-03M on December 21, 2011 and are expected to return to Earth in early July 2012. Meanwhile, Soyuz TMA-04M is expected to return home on September 17.

Soyuz TMA-04M will connect to ISS at 11 hours 39 minutes on May 17 (VN time).