They are the best of friends who will work together in close proximity hand in hand.<br /><br />Co-operation between the US and Russia is alive and well – in space if not on earth.<br /><br />Expedition 39/40 with Astronaut Flight Engineer Steven Swanson, Soyuz Commander Alexander Skortsov and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev blasted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. <br /><br />The three crew will eventually rendezvous with the International Space Station to boost the lab’s crew there back to six.<br /><br />The separation of Soyuz from its booster went as planned.<br /><br />However a later problem with a thruster caused the threesome to skip scheduled steering maneuvers delaying their arrival at the space station until Thursday.
