New Crew En Route To Station After Safe Launch From Kazakhstan

A new crew is on its way to the International Space Station tonight after launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts -- Alexander Kalery and Oleg Skripochka -- blasted off from the central Asian spaceport at 7:10 p.m. EST, heading off on a two-day trip to the International Space Station.

"We feel fine, and everything is on order onboard," Skripochna told launch controllers..

The nine-minute flight went by the books, and the spacecraft's communications antennas and power-producing solar arrays were deployed as designed shortly after the Soyuz reached orbit.

The new station crew is slated to dock at the outpost at 8:01 p.m. Saturday. Live coverage will begin here in The Flame Trench at 7:15 p.m. and we'll also have live coverage of hatch-opening between the craft at 11:01 p.m. Saturday.

Kelly, Kalery and Skripochka will join American astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin onboard the station. The six of them on Nov. 1 will celebrate the 10th anniversary of continuous human presence on the station.