A Russian rocket carrying two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the international space station streaked into orbit today – another crew rotation in a Russian space vehicle filling in for US space shuttles.

A Russian spacecraft carrying a new crew docked smoothly with the international space station today, as US and Russian space officials on the ground argued over the conditions for future missions.

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.

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.