An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying supplies and Christmas gifts for the crew of the international space station blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today, a Russian space agency spokesman said.

US millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen and a two-man Russian-American crew returned from the international space station to Earth early today in a lightning-swift, bone-jarring descent.

A RUSSIAN spacecraft docked flawlessly and ahead of schedule at the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday, delivering an American space traveller and a new two-man Russian-American crew.

A Russian rocket roared into space today in a burst of flame, launching the world’s third space tourist, US millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen, and a US-Russian crew on a two-day trip to the international space station.