Soyuz spacecraft enters orbit

BAIKONUR, October 8 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Soyuz spacecraft which
blasted off overnight from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying two
Russians and an American to the International Space Station (ISS), entered
the designated orbit, a Baikonur spokesman said.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg
Skripochka are set to take up long-term posts as members of the station's
Expedition 25 crew.
The new model of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the TMA-01M, which
features new guidance, navigation, control and data processing systems,
and an improved cooling device for the electronics, lifted off as
scheduled at 03:11 hours Moscow time (2311 GMT).
Docking with the ISS is scheduled for Sunday. The new crew will join
existing Expedition 25 comprising station commander Doug Wheelock of NASA
and flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin of Russia and Shannon Walker of
NASA.