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Soyuz launches to space station

Baku, October 9 (AZERTAC). A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut has left Earth bound for the International Space Station (ISS). Lift-off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan occurred at the scheduled time of 0510 (2310 GMT).

Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and Scott Kelly are due to reach the orbiting platform on Saturday.

The men will complete a five-month tour of duty aboard the laboratory as part of the Expedition 25 and 26 crews.

Assuming the February flight of the US shuttle Endeavour is not delayed, Scott Kelly will be joined in orbit by his brother, Mark - the first time that siblings have been in space together.

Scott Kelly will act as a flight engineer on Expedition 25, before assuming command of the orbiting platform with the Expedition 26 team.

The rest of the 26 team, due to launch in December, includes Paulo Nespoli, Europe`s next long-duration ISS resident.

The next shuttle mission will be undertaken by Discovery next month. It will carry a storeroom to the station.

Endeavour`s task will be to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle physics experiment.

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