U.S.-Russian crew blasts off

MOSCOW >> Two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are on their way to the International Space Station.

A Soyuz rocket carrying the three men blasted off Wednesday from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan. On board the capsule were NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold, and Roscosmos’ cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.

The spacecraft is set to dock at the orbiting outpost on Friday.

The trio will join station residents Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, Scott Tingle of NASA and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The new crew will spend about five months at the space station.

DMITRI LOVETSKY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, POOL Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, center, with U.S. astronauts Richard Arnold, right, and Andrew Feustel, before the launch Wednesday of the Soyuz MS-08 space ship for a mission aboard the International Space Station.