Live coverage: Three-man crew docks with space station

An upgraded Soyuz spacecraft, featuring improved navigation, communications and rendezvous systems, blasted into orbit from Kazakhstan Wednesday and set off on a two-day maiden flight to deliver three fresh crew members to the International Space Station.

Russian ground crews are readying a robotic Progress cargo freighter for launch Thursday on an expedited trek to the International Space Station that should take less than three-and-a-half hours from liftoff to docking, cutting in half the normal transit time.

Two days after launching from the steppe of Kazakhstan, a Russian Progress resupply and refueling freighter docked with the International Space Station Sunday.