+4:3 Soyuz spacecraft launches on mission to space station

(19 Dec 2012) ++16:9++ ++AUDIO COMMENTARY THROUGHOUT SHOTS++ 1. Various of Soyuz spacecraft on landing pad before launch 2. Close of Soyuz as first stabiliser is removed 3. Various of Soyuz as second stabiliser is removed, countdown commences and rocket launches ++NIGHT SHOTS++ 4. Close of Soyuz as it flies upwards UPSOUND (English) "Lift off. Tom Marshburn, Roman Romanenko, and Chris Hadfield making their way towards the International Space Station." 5. Wide of Soyuz as it gets further away 6. Wide of Soyuz space craft as it detaches from rocket ++4:3++ 7. Various of astronauts inside the Soyuz spacecraft STORYLINE: A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts has taken off atop a towering Russian rocket, headed for the International Space Station. The Soyuz launched from Russia's manned space facility in the grasslands of the Kazakh Steppe at 6:12 pm Wednesday (1212 GMT). NASA's Tom Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko, and the Canadian Space Agency's Chris Hadfield have embarked on a two day journey before docking at the Space Station where they will join with three other astronauts. The spacecraft was rolled out of its hangar on a flatbed train at exactly 7am (0100 GMT) in strict accordance with tradition and crawled for two hours at a walking pace to the launch pad. Colleagues, friends and relatives of the astronauts withstood temperatures as low as minus -30 Celsius (minus-22 Fahrenheit), worsened by wind, to watch the procedure. But officials say the glacial conditions will have had little effect on the Soyuz. The current Soyuz craft is a variation on the vehicle that has been in constant use by the Soviet and then Russian manned space programs since 1967. The launch marks a return to use of the launch pad known as Gagarin's Start, where Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off in 1961 for the first human orbital space flight. The need for a back-up launch site became particularly acute with the decommissioning of the US shuttle fleet, leaving the Soyuz as the only vehicle able to carry astronauts to the space station. Although the Soyuz has proven dependable, recurrent problems with the unmanned version of the craft have sown anxiety over NASA's excessive reliance on the Russian space program. NASA announced last week that it was making progress toward the first test of its new generation Orion spacecraft in 2014. Orion is a part of NASA's growing ambitions to extend its reach into space. NASA says it is being designed to travel more than 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometres) above Earth's surface and return at a speed almost 5,000 miles (8,050 kilometres) per hour faster than any current human spacecraft. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...