NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko, all flight engineers, launched in their Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, April 2 at 12:04 a.m. EDT to begin a two-day journey to the International Space Station.

› View launch video at http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/exp23lau...

Less than 10 minutes after launch, their spacecraft reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays were deployed.

Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, both flight engineers, are currently the sole residents on the station, having arrived Dec. 22 aboard their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft.