Luca lifts off

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and crewmates Fyodor Yurchikhin and Karen Nyberg were launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 20:31:24 GMT on 28 May (22:31:24 CEST 28 May; 02:31:24 local time 29 May) on their mission to the International Space Station. They reached orbit nine minutes later and are scheduled to dock with the orbital outpost at 02:17 GMT (04:17 CEST) on 29 May. An ESA press release will follow after the hatch is opened into the Station, expected at: 03:55 GMT (05:55 CEST).