Lift-off for first manned mission since shuttle crash

A Soyuz spacecraft was in orbit around Earth last night after successfully blasting off in the first manned spaceflight since the Columbia shuttle disaster in February.

The Soyuz, which lifted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan early yesterday morning, is taking a Russian and an American to replace the three crew on board the International Space Station.

Their trip is the first since seven Nasa astronauts were killed when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated and blew up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere on 1 February.

The Soyuz, carrying the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and the US astronaut Ed Lu, is expected to dock with the space station at 05.56 GMT tomorrow morning, after a two-day chase to catch up.

Mr Lu's fiancée, Christine Romero, said that given the space shuttle disaster she felt a "kind of mix of joy, relief and sheer pride" during yesterday's launch. Russian families rarely turn up at launches because they believe it brings bad luck. But relief has failed to disguise mounting tensions over the US's apparent refusal to help the Russians meet the increased costs of supplying the space station. Since Columbia, Nasa's space shuttle programme has been stalled, leaving the Russians to supply the space station alone and foot the increased bill. The dispute could lead to the joint programme ending, said Valery Ryumin, Russian programme director for the space station.

The two astronauts, who first flew to the space station together in 2000, are due to stay on board until October.