Spacecraft carrying US-Russian crew blasts off to International Space Station in quicker trip
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Russian spacecraft carrying a three-man crew has blasted off on a quicker than usual trip to the International Space Station.
The Soyuz took off as scheduled from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:43 a.m. Friday (2043 GMT; 4:43 p.m. EDT Thursday).
Chris Cassidy of NASA, along with Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, make up the first crew to take a new, much shorter path to the orbiting outpost. Instead of the two-day approach maneuver used in the past, a journey to the station would take the crew just under six hours.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The new maneuver has been tested successfully by three Russian Progress cargo ships, an unmanned version of the Soyuz used to carry supplies to the space station.