Three-man Soyuz flight honouring Gagarin blasts off for ISS

Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft carrying ISS crew blasts off from the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome

A three-man crew blasted off to the International Space Station Friday in a capsule honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space. Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei lifted off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at the expected time of 0742 GMT, footage broadcast by NASA TV showed, with docking expected at 1107 GMT. Reminders of Gagarin's achievement were everywhere at the Russia-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as Novitsky, Dubrov and Vande Hei prepared for their half-year mission aboard the orbital lab. The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that the trio took off in has been named after the legendary cosmonaut and Gagarin's portrait has been added to its exterior.