Two Russians and an American headed for the International Space Station yesterday to prepare a potential springboard for interplanetary travel.
The 40-metre white, orange and grey Soyuz TM-31 rocket roared into the foggy autumn sky right on time at 7.52 a.m. (Irish time) from Launch Pad 1 in the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. It was carrying the first crew for the ISS on a long-planned mission that aspires to open a new era in space exploration.
Television monitors showed the trio, William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov, shaking hands eight minutes after launch as their capsule, also called Soyuz or "union", separated from the booster.
They are due to dock with the $60 billion station at 9.24 a.m. tomorrow.
"We are going to be in space with people circling the Earth forever," the head of NASA, Mr Daniel Goldin, said after the launch.
"We will build bases on Mars, the moon and asteroids. Instead of pointing missiles at each other or competing with each other, we learn from each other," he said.
The crew, in white and blue space suits and carrying portable ventilation systems, had earlier flashed broad grins and waved to the crowd as they headed to the launch site, from which Yuri Gagarin blasted off to become the first man in space 39 years ago.
"Let's go do it!" Shepherd called out, giving the thumbs up before they disappeared into the rocket. Contrary to forecasts, the site was covered in a thick fog that space officials said presented extra problems. But it did not delay lift-off.
"This is a big achievement. Russia, which put the first man in space, and the United States, which put the first man on the moon, have joined hands," said Mr Valery Alaverdov, deputy head of the Russian Space Agency.
Within seconds of the rocket clearing the launch site, live television pictures showed the crew reporting to mission controllers. Shepherd could be seen waving to the camera.
They had been blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest and drank champagne with journalists and colleagues before departure.
The ISS is a 16-nation project aimed at realising the dream of living in space. As well as Russia and the US, the ISS includes Canada, Brazil, Japan and member-countries of the European Space Agency.
Hailed as one of the greatest engineering feats ever, the ISS will eventually be the brightest object in the night sky and the only artificial heavenly body visible to the naked eye.
When finished in 2005, it will be seven storeys high, weigh 418 tonnes and have as much living space as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The first crew will focus on building up the ISS.
Once on board, they will inhabit the Russian-built Zvezda living quarters launched from Baikonur earlier this year. Two other modules, the Russian-built Zarya and the U.S.-built Unity, have been in orbit since 1998.
The crew will start with only enough oxygen to stay alive for two days, no air conditioning and no way to cook their food. They will then spend the first week rushing to bring a variety of life-support systems on line, as well as creating a network to help run the station's systems from laptop computers.
The road to yesterday's launch has not been easy. The project's cost has been estimated at triple its original budget, and its funding has been under constant threat. Krikalyov criticised Russia in early October for allowing the US to take the lead in the project, voicing fears that Moscow's participation had become secondary.