14 DAY TRIAL // The NASA image above shows the trail left behind by the Soyuz-FG rocket that was launched into space today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The two-minute exposure follows the delivery system as it soars into the clear morning skies above the Kazakh steppe.
Attached to the rocket is the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft, which carries astronauts Mikhail Tyurin (RosCosmos), Koichi Wakata (JAXA) and Rick Mastracchio (NASA) to the International Space Station. The three are part of Expedition 38 to the lab, and will remain in space for the next six months.
Also aboard the spacecraft is the Olympic Torch that will be used to inaugurate the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, to be held in Sochi, Russia, next winter. The Torch will be taken on a spacewalk on November 9, and will return to Earth a day later, with half of the Expedition 37 crew.
The new launch marks the first time since October 2009 when nine astronauts resided on the orbital facility at the same time. Expedition 37 astronauts will return home on Sunday aboard their Soyuz TMA-09M capsule, restoring the ISS' standard crew of six permanent residents.