A multinational crew made up of an American, a Russian and the first space traveler from the United Arab Emirates has blasted off successfully for a mission on the International Space Station.
A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled at 6:57 p.m. (1357 GMT) Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, Oleg Skripochka of Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori from the UAE were set to dock at the orbiting outpost six hours later.
The mission is the third spaceflight for Skripochka and the first for Meir and Almansoori. Almansoori is on an eight-day mission under a contract between the UAE and Roscosmos.