The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft carrying a new crew to the international space station blasts off Wednesday from the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The Russian rocket carries Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium.

Baikonur, Kazakhstan ? A Russian space capsule blasted off Wednesday into the searing hot afternoon skies of Central Asia on a landmark mission to expand the permanent human presence in space.

The Soyuz craft carrying Canadian Bob Thirsk, Russian Roman Romanenko and Belgian Frank De Winne soared above Kazakhstan’s southern steppe to begin a two-day journey to the international space station — the largest manmade object in the earth’s orbit.

Hundreds of journalists, relatives, visiting space enthusiasts and dignitaries, including Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium, thronged in and around two rickety wooden viewing stands a mile away, taking pictures and applauding as the rocket’s propulsion system shook the earth.

Liftoff was on schedule at 5:34 a.m. CDT from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome, despite fears that windy weather earlier would delay the launch.

The capsule is expected to dock with the space station Friday.

The three astronauts on the Soyuz will join the three crew members already on the station, forming a six-member permanent crew for the first time.

The Soyuz capsule will be hooked to the space station until it is used in the future by astronauts returning to Earth.

Experts also say the enlarged crew will allow for greater advances in scientific research.

“The kinds of science, the amount of science — all of that is going to be expanded once we get our feet planted with the six people onboard,” NASA spokesman Rob Navias said.

Canada’s space agency has planned a dozen experiments to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body. Equipment for a number of European experiments is awaiting a launch on a shuttle in August.