Three astronauts blasted off Thursday from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome towards the International Space Station in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft. 

First-time astronauts Kathleen Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japanese space agency set off for a four-month mission at the ISS with two-time Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin at 0136 GMT.

"And lift-off!" said a commentator on NASA TV, which broadcast footage of the launch in Kazakhstan.