One American and two Russians blasted off for their six-month stay on the International Space Station from Kazakhstan. The Russian Soyuz spacecraft lifted off with 9,000 pounds of thrust carrying the three astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

• The Expedition 47 and 48 crew include veteran NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin.
• Soyuz was successfully captured and docked at the Space Station with the trio on time.
• Williams will set several records during his stay on the Space Station, he will become the new American record holder for cumulative days in space, at 534, beating Scott Kelly’s one-year mission.
• Williams will take command of the station starting on June 4 beginning Expedition 48 and marking his third Space Station expedition, also a record.
• Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka holds the world record at 878 days.
• This will be Ovchinin’s first flight to the space station.
• The three new arrivals will bring the space station crew up to six join Expedition 47 Commander Tim Kopra, of NASA, ESA astronaut Tim Peake and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.