The Soyuz MS-26 manned spacecraft successfully separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket after a launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, according to a TASS reporter at the spaceport.

Headed to the International Space Station are Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner (who will also work as a TASS special correspondent on the orbital outpost) and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit. They make up ISS Expedition 72.

The approach to the ISS will take place according to an ultra-short rendezvous scheme. The spacecraft is expected to dock with the Rassvet module of the station’s Russian segment at about 10:33 p.m. Moscow time (7:33 p.m. GMT).