Live coverage: 400th Proton rocket takes off with Russian satellite

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday and set off after the International Space Station.

Russia’s new Angara 5 rocket, the biggest Russian launcher since the end of the Cold War, made a pre-dawn blastoff from the wintry Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Tuesday on a successful first flight. See video and photos of the fiery liftoff from the snowy launch pad.

The Russian Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft and booster rocket were rolled out to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday in preparation for liftoff Thursday at 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT) on a two-day trek to the International Space Station.