A Soyuz space capsule headed for the International Space Station, carrying two Russian and one American astronauts, Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz TMA-20M rocket launched at around 5:26 p.m. EST and barged into orbit about 10 minutes after the liftoff; thanks to the seemingly perfect launch. The spacecraft has already docked at the ISS
"The crew is now firmly affixed to the space station," reports NASA mission control.
The Crew
The space crew that went aboard the spacecraft was composed of flight engineer Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, flight engineer Jeff Williams of NASA and Soyuz commander for Expedition 47, Alexey Ovchinin, also from Roscosmos.
They will be at the ISS for a five and a half month mission.
The crew joins current ISS residents British astronaut Tim Peake from the European Space Agency and Tim Kopra from NASA and Yuri Malenchenko from Roscosmos. Williams will take over the place of Kopra in June.
The astronauts will be studying possible fire events in space, observe how meteors enter the Earth and soil behavior in space, among others. They will also test an adhesive device inspired by geckos and an advanced 3D printer in microgravity.
Setting A New Record
Williams is set to make a new record as he tries to beat Scott Kelly's stay in the ISS. If and when Williams complete this new mission, he will hold the record of being the American with the longest stay in space.
Aside from his upcoming stay, Williams has already been on three earlier Soyuz trips and one Space Shuttle journey to space. He will try to set the record of the longest cumulative stay of an American in space during his Expedition 47 mission with 534 days. So far, Williams had already spent 362 days in space.
The world's longest space stay record belongs to Russian Gennady Padalka, who stayed in space for a total of 879 days.
Before the launch, Williams tweeted about the launch, giving attention to the slight snowing and huge excitement he has. He says all he plans to pack was a nice suit.
