Russian launch marks Gargarin's Anniversary

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of human space flight, Russia sent a fresh crew to the International Space Station. The Soyuz FG rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft with a crew of three lifted off from Site 1 in Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 5, 2011, at 02:18:20 Moscow Summer Time. The vehicle departed from the same facility, which hosted the historic launch of Yuri Gagarin and the blastoff of the world's first artificial satellite. After a nine-minute powered flight, Soyuz TMA-21 entered orbit safely, mission control reported.



The Russian space agency, Roskosmos, officially dedicated the Soyuz TMA-21 launch to the pioneering mission of the Vostok spacecraft on April 12, 1961.



The docking of the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft with the MIM-2 Poisk module of the International Space Station is scheduled for April 7, 2011, at 03:18:00 Moscow Time. The spacecraft and its crew is expected to remain at the outpost until September 2011.



Onboard the station, the crew of Soyuz TMA-21 will join three other members of Expedition 27, who arrived onboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft in December 2010.