Spy at cosmodrome to wave off astronauts at space-station

The Soyuz TMA-01M was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan.

The crew’s relatives and supporters cheered when engines roared and the spaceship lifted off in a blaze of orange flames.

Russian engineers hugged and kissed one another after the craft shed its first stage and it became clear the launch was a success.

Mike Suffredini, head of Nasa’s space station programme who watched the launch from an observation point with his Russian counterparts, gave his thumbs-up to the launch: “You can hear it all the way up.”

Scott Kelly and Russia’s Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka are due to reach the orbiting laboratory in two days to begin their five-month mission.

They will join two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut who have been at the station since June.

Ms Chapman, who has avoided the public and the Press since being deported from the US in July, appeared at the farewell ceremony for the space crew.

She told a reporter that she had “just arrived” and refused to answer any questions.

She then walked hastily to a guarded guest house near the launch pad.

An unnamed official with Russia’s space agency said Ms Chapman was at Baikonur as an adviser to the president of FondServisBank. The bank works with space industry companies and was handing out awards.

Ms Chapman was one of 10 Russian spies deported from the US.