The International Space Station and docked orbiter Endeavour. Image taken by Expedition 27 astronaut Paolo Nespoli on the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on May 23, 2011, USA time.

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying American Mike Fossum, Russian Sergei Volkov and Japanese Satoshi Furukawa launched from Kazakhstan at 1:12 p.m. PDT (2:12 a.m. local time, Wednesday). They are due at the orbiting laboratory on Thursday and will stay until November. Already living and working there since April are Russians Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, and American Ron Garan, who are scheduled to depart in September. 

The six station residents comprise Expedition 28.

Also on Tuesday, NASA released photos of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station during its final mission in May. The photos -- captured by Expedition 27 astronaut Paolo Nespoli when he was in a Soyuz spacecraft with two other crewmates after they had undocked from the station -- are the first ever of a shuttle-station complex from the perspective of a Soyuz spacecraft.

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