Two Russians and an American Monday blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian rocket from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Geo News reported.
The initial stages of the lift-off went smoothly and a textbook launch would be a boost for Russia, whose space programme has been hit by the loss of half a dozen satellites over the last year due to faulty launches.
"Everything is normal and we are feeling fine," the crew reported back to mission control over the radio. Mission control reported that the Soyuz TMA-22 capsule had successfully gone into Earth orbit.
American Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin are due to dock with the ISS at 0533 GMT on Wednesday, joining three crews on board.
The lift-off from Baikonur was the first manned launch since the retirement of the US shuttle made Russia the sole nation capable of taking humans to the ISS.
It is also the first manned launch after an unmanned Progress supply vessel bound for the ISS crashed into Siberia shortly after take-off from Baikonur in August, in Russia's worst space mishap in years.
