Russian Rocket Bound For Mir Space Station

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted into space Sunday carrying an astronaut from Germany and two Russian cosmonauts headed for the Mir space station.

The rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. It is scheduled to dock with Mir on Tuesday.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Avdeyev and Yuri Gidzenko are expected to spend 135 days in space studying gravity and preparing for a planned international space station.