By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow/Baikonur : The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft with three crewmembers on board Wednesday blasted off from the Baikonur Space Station in Kazakhstan for its half-year mission on the International Space Station (ISS).
The launch took place on schedule at 01.35 a.m.
The crew included Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchihin and US astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker.
The spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS Friday. The three crewmembers will join Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Korniyenko and US astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
The ISS orbit was raised by 2.5 km June 8 to ensure the best conditions for the docking of the spacecraft.
The TMA-19 mission will be the 106th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since the start of the programme in 1967.