British-born astronaut back in space

Saturday, 18 October 2003 5:50 AM

A British-born astronaut is back orbiting the earth after a four-year absence.

Onboard the Russian Soyuz rocket, Michael Foale's took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 06:39 BST Saturday.

The 46-year old is to spend the next six months on the International Space Station carrying out research and repairs.

The five-flight veteran is joined by two other astronauts, Spaniard Pedro Duque and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri.

Mr Duque will return to Earth on October 28 with the previous space station crew, Yuri Malenchenko and Edward Lu.

Mr Kaleri and Mr Foale will remain on the space station.

The flight comes three days after China became the third nation on Earth to launch a manned rocket into space, joining the former Soviet Union and the United States.

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