KAZAKHSTAN-RUSSIA-USA-ISS-SPACE

KAZAKHSTAN-RUSSIA-USA-ISS-SPACE

Russian Soyuz-FG rocket with the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft and a crew of US astronaut Steven Swanson, Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev aboard, blasts off from a launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, early on March 26, 2014. A crew of two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut blasted off today from Kazakhstan on a Russian Soyuz rocket for the International Space Station, with US-Russia space cooperation pressing on despite the diplomatic standoff over Ukraine. AFP PHOTO / VASILY MAXIMOV