André Kuipers is strapped into a launch seat and undergoes a final pressure test of his Sokol pressure suit prior to being transferred to the launch pad to board the Soyuz TMA-4 for launch of the Delta Mission to the International Space Station. The DELTA mission, with European Space Agency astronaut André Kuipers, and the ISS Expedition 9 crew lifted off today in the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft on flight 8S to the International Space Station. The launch took place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at [09.19] local time ([05.19] Central European Time).