A new crew for a lengthy stay on board the International Space Station (ISS) was launched Sunday morning from the Baikonur space centre, BBC reported.
The Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lontchakov and his US colleague Michael Fincke was launched at 0701 GMT, the Itar-Tass agency reported.
Besides the pair, US businessman Richard Garriott was on board as a tourist, having paid some 30 million dollars for what is to be a one-week stay in space.
The Soyuz is due to dock with the ISS on Tuesday.