A Soyuz rocket bearing the image of Gagarin takes off with three men on board

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut took off Friday, April 9 for the International Space Station (ISS) for a mission honoring the 60th anniversary of the sending of the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin.

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Their Soyuz rocket tore from Earth’s gravity as expected at 0742 GMT from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.