Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Tuesday have begun a two-day flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

The capsule separated from the third and last stage of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle, a spokesman for Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

It reached orbit less than ten minutes after blastoff at 3:01 GMT Tuesday.

Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba are expected to dock with the ISS on Thursday.

They will join current ISS expedition members, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, before starting a four-month mission aboard the orbital station.

Source: RIA Novosti