Manned rocket blasts off from Kazakhstan

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.

From deep in Kazakhstan’s Kazakh steppe, the 130ft Russian rocket, the latest version of the world’s longest-serving manned spacecraft, soared into space at 7.54am Moscow time (4.54am Irish time) on its way to the international space station, 220 miles above Earth. Shortly after lift-off, the rocket was safely in orbit, space officials said.