US-Russian crew of 3 launches to International Space Station

A Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan to put the Soyuz MS-27 carrying the trio in orbit

Moscow: NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crewmates launched successfully to the International Space Station on Tuesday on board a Russian spacecraft.

A Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan to put the Soyuz MS-27 carrying the trio in orbit. They are set to dock at the station just over three hours later.

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Kim and Russia’s Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are scheduled to spend about eight months at the space outpost. NASA said Kim will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare the crew for future space missions and provide benefits to people on Earth. A native of Los Angeles, Kim is a US Navy lieutenant commander and dual-designated naval aviator and flight surgeon.

Kim, Ryzhikov and Zubritsky will join NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Kirill Peskov on the space outpost. AP