Fastest Time Travel To Space Station By Crew: Soyuz Spacecraft (Live Stream)

Today also marks the first one-day launch to the International Space Station by a Soyuz spacecraft carrying a human crew — a historic first for the orbiting laboratory. NASA’s webcast of the launch will begin at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT). Watch the live streaming below via NASA.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin are counting down to launch toward the space station at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT), though it will be early Friday morning local time at the launch site.

In the 12 years of crewed operations at the International Space Station, astronauts and cosmonauts have always taken several days to reach the orbiting laboratory after launching on a Soyuz capsule or NASA space shuttle.

For today’s mission, the crew will liftoff from a launch pad at the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and arrive at the space station in six hours. They will orbit the Earth four times.

Live video: