Historic Soyuz launch to International Space Station

A Soyuz spacecraft has launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, marking an historic new landmark in space travel.

Nasa's Chris Cassidy and Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, are the first humans to be transported to the International Space Station (ISS) using a new manoeuvre. Their journey will take only four orbits of the earth, rather than the usual two days.

The rendezvous technique has previously been used on three unpiloted Russian Progress cargo spacecraft.