A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three new crew for the International Space Station arrived at the orbital outpost on Wednesday after a two-month launch delay, a NASA TV broadcast showed, Reuters reported. Veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and rookie astronauts Kjell Lindgren with NASA and Japan's Kimiya Yui blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket at 5:02 p.m. (2102 GMT) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They arrived less than six hours later to begin a five-month mission aboard the station, a $100-billion laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth. The trio had been set to fly in May, but Russia delayed the mission after a botched launch of a similar Soyuz rocket on April 28. That accident stranded a Progress cargo ship in an orbit too low to reach the station. Nine days later, the capsule, loaded with three tons of equipment and supplies, fell back into Earth's atmosphere and was incinerated. -- SPA 11:44 LOCAL TIME 08:44 GMT تغريد
