A Soyuz MS-02 has taken off from the Baikonur cosmodrome, taking two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS), RT reports.

The crew includes Sergey Ryzhikovand and Andrey Borisenko, as well as NASA’s Robert Shane Kimbrough.

The Soyuz reached orbit just nine minutes into the flight, while the ship’s journey to the International Space Station (ISS) is expected to take two days.

The new two-day flight plan aims at testing all systems of the new space craft, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos.