Posted: Wed, May 27, 2009, 8:50 AM ET (1250 GMT)
A Soyuz rocket launched a spacecraft Wednesday carrying three new crewmembers for the International Space Station as the outpost expands its crew to six people for the first time. The Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:34 am EDT (1034 GMT) and placed the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft into orbit nine minutes later. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Friday. On board the spacecraft is Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, ESA astronaut Frank De Winne, and Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk. The three will join the three current members of the ISS crew, Gennady Padalka, Michael Barratt, and Koichi Wakata. This will mark the first time the ISS will have a six-person permanent crew.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  AFP article
•  Reuters article
•  BBC article
•  ESA press release