Welcome aboard! The newest residents have floated into the International Space Station from their Soyuz capsule for welcoming ceremony.

The docking probe on the front of Soyuz has retracted, allowing the hooks and latches to close and form a seal between the capsule and station. Pressure and leak checks will be performed over the next orbit before the hatchway is opened for the crew to enter into the station in a couple of hours.

Over the next few minutes, the Soyuz docking probe will retract to allow hooks and latches to bring the spacecraft to a firm seal with the station. Hatches between the two vehicles will be opened around 11:25 p.m. EDT (0325 GMT).

Docking occurred 260 miles over the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Peru.

DOCKING! The Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft has docked to the Rassvet module of the space station, delivering Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, and ESA flight engineer Alexander Gerst to the international outpost for their five-and-a-half month space mission.

Standing by for contact and capture momentarily.

Soyuz is now on a computer-controlled final approach.

Ground teams and the cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft are confirming the capsule is properly aligned with the Poisk docking port.

The Soyuz completed the flyaround to align with the docking port. It's now in the stationkeeping hold about 185 meters, or about 607 feet, away from the complex about while controllers verify all is in readiness for final approach.

The flyaround has begun. Soyuz is flying itself around the international outpost to get into the approach corridor leading to the Rassvet module's docking port. This is a 73-degree flyaround at a range of about 400 meters, or 1,300 feet.

A camera mounted on the Soyuz spacecraft is now returning images of the space station.

Range is now 7.4 kilometers as the Soyuz approaches at a rate of 14 meters per second.

Range between the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft and the space station is now about 15 kilometers, or 9 miles.

The International Space Station has also maneuvered into its docking attitude.

No problems have been reported during the Soyuz rendezvous sequence. The Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft has established a communications link with the International Space Station, the capsule's Kurs navigation radar has been activated, and the automated rendezvous is underway.

Docking with the space station's Earth-facing Rassvet module is set for one hour from now at 0148 GMT (9:48 p.m. EDT).

Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency flight engineer Alexander Gerst have arrived in orbit following a good launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The solar arrays have been unfurled aboard the spacecraft to generate electricity, and the first major orbit-adjustment maneuver is planned for 4:40 p.m. EDT (2040 GMT) to begin raising the capsule's altitude to match that of the space station.

A second "delta velocity" burn is set for 5:24 p.m. EDT (2124 GMT), followed by several more firings over the next few hours to set up for rendezvous and docking.

The 7.9-ton capsule's automated rendezvous sequence, guided by its Kurs radar system, will commence at 7:42 p.m. EDT (2342 GMT).

The Soyuz should be in position to start a flyaround maneuver at range of about 400 meters, or 1,300 feet, at about 9:26 p.m. EDT (0126 GMT) to line up with the docking port on the space station's Earth-facing Rassvet module. Soyuz commander Maxim Suraev will be standing by to take over manual flying of the spacecraft if required. Final approach will begin about 9 minutes before docking, which is scheduled for 9:48 p.m. EDT (0148 GMT).

The docking should occur 5 hours and 51 minutes after liftoff.

The craft is completing a programmed sequence to deploy the power-generating solar arrays, as well as antennas for navigational and communication systems.

T+plus 9 minutes. CAPSULE SEPARATION! The Soyuz spacecraft is flying free after the upper stage finished its engine firing and then separated away. The capsule is in pursuit of the International Space Station for a planned docking at 9:48 p.m. EDT (0148 GMT).

T+plus 8 minutes. About a minute remains in the propulsion by the upper stage. The motor consumes kerosene and liquid oxygen just like the Soyuz rocket's other powerplants.

T+plus 7 minutes. The four-nozzle RD-0110 engine of the upper stage continues to burn to put the spacecraft into orbit.

T+plus 6 minutes. Soyuz's upper stage is firing to propel the spacecraft into a stable orbital perch around Earth on the six-hour, four-orbit trek to catch the International Space Station.

T+plus 5 minutes. The core stage of the Soyuz rocket has shut down and separated at an altitude of approximately 105 miles, leaving the upper stage to complete the job of injecting the Soyuz capsule into orbit.

T+plus 4 minutes. The core RD-108A engine continues to fire on its propellant mixture of kerosene fuel and supercold liquid oxygen.

T+plus 3 minutes. The safety escape tower and launch shroud have been jettisoned from the atop the Soyuz capsule.

T+plus 2 minutes, 10 seconds. The four strap-on boosters clustered around the Soyuz rocket's main stage have burned out and separated. The core engine continues to fire as Soyuz streaks into space at more than 3,300 mph.

T+plus 60 seconds. Good performance one minute into this ascent for the Soyuz rocket and its three-person crew from the Kazakh launch base.

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman is strapped into the left-hand seat serving as co-pilot, veteran cosmonaut Maxim Suraev is in the center seat for his role as the Soyuz commander and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst is riding in the right-hand seat.

T+plus 30 seconds. Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst are beginning a five-and-a-half month expedition in space.

The Soyuz rocket has maneuvered on course for a rendezvous with the space station six hours from now. The station currently is flying 260 miles over southern Russia.

LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the Expedition 40 crew en route to the International Space Station for docking in six hours!

T-minus 40 seconds. The first umbilical arm has separated from Soyuz. The second will retract in the next few seconds.

T-minus 1 minute and counting. The Soyuz has been placed on internal power.

T-minus 2 minutes and counting. Rocket propellant tank pressurization is underway. The vehicle's onboard measurement system is activated. Oxidizer and fuel drain and safety valves of the launch vehicle have been closed.

T-minus 4 minutes and counting. The nitrogen purge of the combustion chambers of side and central engine pods of the rocket is being performed in preparation for ignition.

T-minus 5 minutes and counting. Soyuz has switched to onboard control, the ground measurement system and the capsule commander's controls are being activated.

T-minus 6 minutes. The automatic program for final launch operations is being initiated. And the launch key has been inserted in the bunker for liftoff.

Launch is set for 3:57:41 p.m. EDT (1957:41 GMT), the moment Earth's rotation carries the Baikonur Cosmodrome under the International Space Station's ground track.

T-minus 9 minutes and counting. The crew has closed its helmet visors.

T-minus 10 minutes. The crew inside the Soyuz capsule are starting recorders to collect data during launch.

T-minus 14 minutes. The Soyuz telemetry systems are being activated. They will relay real-time data back to Earth during today's launch.

T-minus 17 minutes. Now in the launch count, realignment of the Soyuz rocket's trajectory control system and checks of internal batteries should be complete. The Soyuz telemetry system will soon be activated and monitoring of Soyuz's thermal control system also will begin.

T-minus 20 minutes and counting. The three-stage Soyuz rocket will insert the 15,700-pound space capsule into a 143 by 118 mile orbit, inclined 51.6 degrees to the equator, according to NASA.

T-minus 22 minutes and counting. At the time of launch, the International Space Station will be flying 260 miles over northeast Kazakhstan. When the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft deploys from the Soyuz rocket's third stage, the space station will be flying about 2,000 miles ahead of the Soyuz.

The space station will fly almost directly overhead the Baikonur Cosmodrome two minutes before launch.

The capsule will close that distance over the next six hours, with docking to the space station's Rassvet module scheduled for 9:48 p.m. EDT (0148 GMT).

T-minus 24 minutes. The crew is completing leak checks of the Sokol launch spacesuits at this point in the countdown.

T-minus 25 minutes and counting. The Soyuz rocket will fly northeast from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, jettisoning its launch escape tower 1 minutes, 54 seconds, after liftoff. Four seconds later, the rocket's four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters will separate as the core RD-108A engine, also known as the Block A second stage, continues firing.

The Soyuz launch shroud will release at T+plus 2 minutes, 37 seconds, followed by ignition of the third stage RD-0110 engine and separation of the Soyuz second stage at T+plus 4 minutes, 45 seconds.

The third stage's RD-0110 engine will fire for four minutes to inject the Soyuz spacecraft into orbit. Shutdown is set for T+plus 8 minutes, 45 seconds, followed by separation of the capsule in orbit three seconds later.

A series of communications and navigation antennas will deploy moments later as the Soyuz begins its six-hour chase of the International Space Station.

Docking is set for 9:48 p.m. EDT (0148 GMT).

T-minus 27 minutes and counting. The emergency escape system is being armed. The system would be employed if a major malfunction occurs, propelling the Soyuz capsule off the top of the rocket to safety.

T-minus 40 minutes and counting. The two-piece service structure which enclosed the Soyuz rocket is being retracted to a horizontal position. The towers protected the rocket and provided workers and the Soyuz crew with access to the spacecraft since the rocket arrived at the launch pad at sunrise Sunday.

Several other umbilical arms connecting the rocket to the ground will be retracted at various times later in the countdown.

T-minus 55 minutes and counting. Soyuz TMA-13M commander Maxim Suraev, NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst were awakened about eight hours ago to begin launch day activities.

They signed the doors at the Cosmonaut Hotel and received religious blessings before boarding a bus that took the three crewmates the 25-mile distance into the cosmodrome. They donned their white Sokol launch and entry suits, met with officials from their respective space agencies and then headed for the pad. Crowds of well-wishers gathered to wave goodbye as the crew reached the rocket. An elevator took the trio up to the capsule-level of the tower to begin climbing aboard the cramped spacecraft.

T-minus 57 minutes. Live streaming video coverage of today's rocket flight to orbit begins now.

T-minus 90 minutes. The Soyuz rocket is fueled, the crew has traveled to the launch pad and the countdown is progressing toward liftoff of the space station's Expedition 40 crew from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:57:41 p.m. EDT (1957:41 GMT).

Live launch coverage and commentary begins in the stream at 3 p.m. EDT.

The three-man crew has arrived at Launch Pad No. 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where they will take an elevator ride to the top of the Soyuz rocket to board the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft for liftoff at 1957 GMT (3:57 p.m. EDT).

The crew is led by Maxim Suraev, a 42-year-old Russian research pilot selected as a cosmonaut candidate in 1997. Suraev logged 169 days aboard the International Space Station as flight engineer on the Expedition 21 and Expedition 22 crews in 2009 and 2010.

Suraev will occupy the capsule's center seat, with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst flanking him in the left and right couches.

Wiseman will be the primary flight engineer, assisting Suraev with control duties during the launch and docking, which is set for 0148 GMT (9:48 p.m. EDT), less than six hours after liftoff.

Making his first spaceflight, Wiseman is a 38-year-old Baltimore-native and commander in the U.S. Navy. He holds engineering degrees from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Johns Hopkins University. He flew as a Navy combat and test pilot before his selection as a NASA astronaut in 2009.

The 38-year-old Gerst was born in Kunzelsau, Germany, and holds a doctorate degree in natural sciences from the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Hamburg, with a focus on volcanic eruption dynamics. Gerst was selected as a European Space Agency astronaut in 2009 and is also making his first spaceflight.

A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. Navy test pilot-turned-astronaut and a German volcanologist are set for a six-hour flight to the International Space Station Wednesday to boost the lab's crew back to six and kick off a busy summer of scientific research and multiple U.S. and Russian spacewalks amid a steady string of visiting cargo ships.

Read our full story.

Opening a new chapter in a tradition reaching back to the dawn of the Space Age, a Russian Soyuz rocket booster rolled out of a hangar Monday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a railroad journey to the launch pad.

The three-stage rocket is set to launch Wednesday (U.S. time) with the next three-man crew to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz launcher departed its assembly building on a railroad transporter just after sunrise Monday, arriving a few hours later atop Launch Pad No. 1, the facility where Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched on the first human spaceflight in April 1961.

Russian ground teams positioned the rocket vertical on top of the launch pad, then access platforms enclosed the Soyuz to allow technicians to complete the final preflight checklist, preparing the launcher for liftoff at 2057 GMT (3:57 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, or 2:57 a.m. local time Thursday.

Soyuz commander Maxim Suraev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman will climb into the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft about three hours before launch.

Suraev, who will occupy the center seat in the Soyuz capsule, is a veteran of a 169-day spaceflight in 2009 and 2010. Gerst and Wiseman are space rookies.

The trio is scheduled to dock with the space station less than six hours after launch, beginning five-and-a-half months on the outpost before returning to Earth in mid-November

The crew will join space station commander Steve Swanson and flight engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev already aboard the complex, raising the crew complement back to six members.

Check out photos of the Soyuz rollout.