The three newest residents of the International Space Station sped into orbit Wednesday aboard a Soyuz launcher after liftoff into an overcast sky over the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. These photos show the crew putting on their spacesuits and their mid-afternoon launch.

A two-stage Northrop Grumman Antares booster lifted off Nov. 2 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with a Cygnus cargo freighter on the way to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy’s family will be watching remotely from halfway around the world when he blasts off April 9 from Kazakhstan to begin a six-month expedition on the International Space Station.