US, Russian, Japanese Crew Blasts Off for Space Station

The Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft rests on its launchpad shortly before the blast off with International Space Station (ISS) crew members Norishige Kanai of Japan, Anton Shkaplerov of Russia and Scott Tingle of the U.S. at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan December 17, 2017. Reuters//Shamil Zhumatov

A trio of U.S. and Japanese astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for a two-day trip to the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

Members of the International Space Station expedition 54/55, Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (C), NASA astronaut Scott Tingle (R) and Norishige Kanai (L) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) during the send-off ceremony after checking their space suits before the launch of the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft at the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, 17 December 2017. Reuters/Maxim Shipenkov/Pool