The crew of the Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan hundreds of miles off-target after an unexpectedly severe descent was in serious danger, a Russian news agency reported.

A Soyuz capsule carrying South Korea’s first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan, several hundred miles off target, a Russian space official said today.

Malaysia’s first astronaut, a Muslim, has vowed to keep praying and fasting in space.

A Russian Soyuz rocket was rolled on to the launch pad at Baikonur today in final preparation for the launch of a three-man crew to the international space station.

Budding astronomers will be hoping for clear skies tonight as the Space Shuttle Endeavour joins with the International Space Station (ISS) over Ireland.

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying British-born astronaut Michael Foale and two others blasted off today for the International Space Station from the Russian space programme’s cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The new bride blew the groom a kiss and he blew one back – from about 240 miles away.

International space station cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko has promised the Russian space agency to cancel his plan to get married while in orbit, an agency spokesman said.

A Russian cosmonaut is to marry his fiance while orbiting the earth in the first space wedding.

After landing in their capsule way off-course in an alarming end to their return from the international space station, the three-man Russian-American crew opened the hatch today and emerged in good health, officials at Russian Mission control said.

Two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on the space station finished packing tonight and crammed into a tiny Soyuz capsule to return to Earth.

AN American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut boarded a space station 250 miles above earth yesterday, relieving a three-man crew forced to stay an extra two months in space as a result of the US Columbia tragedy.

Russia’s Soyuz TMA-2 space capsule today successfully docked with the international space station and transferred US astronaut Edward Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.

American astronaut Edward Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were due to reach the international space station today to relieve the three crew members on board.

A Soyuz TMA-2 rocket with American astronaut Edward Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko aboard blasted off for the International Space Station today, on a mission intended to keep space exploration going despite the Columbia tragedy.