BAIKONUR, March 26, 4:35 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's Soyuz manned spaceship with an international crew of next long-duration expedition, the ISS-39/40, has been launched from Baikonur spaceport Wednesday.
Spaceship separated from the carrier rocket nine minutes later and reached the designated orbit, a source at the spaceport told Itar-Tass.
The spaceship Soyuz TMA-12M is carrying Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, and American astronaut Steve Swanson. They are to work in orbit for about five months.