A three-man US-Russian crew blasted off Tuesday onboard the Soyuz rocket for their historic mission to become the first astronauts to live on the International Space Station, Russian television showed.
US astronaut William Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalyov and Yury Gidzenko took off on schedule at 0753 GMT from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan for the first long-term expedition to the 16-nation space project.
They are scheduled to enter the international space station Thursday and will remain there until February 2001 when a replacement crew arrives -- MOSCOW (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
