JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are on a historic mission to the International Space Station. CNN's Jill Dougherty reports.</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After a two-year delay, the first permanent crew is on its way to the International Space Station. They blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan. And Thursday, they will link up with the International Space Station. It's a Russian and American crew, William Shepherd from the United States, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov from Russia. They will be on the ISS for four months, moving in, setting up equipment, and sleeping quarter, hooking up computers and other supplies, and running communications checks. The International Space Station is the $60 billion project of 16 nations. And for the next 15 years at least, international crews will be living aboard, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. A laboratory opening up new areas of research not possible on Earth. Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.
First Permanent Crew on its way to the International Space Station