Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, first Italian female European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and American NASA astronaut Terry W. Virts were blasted into space this evening, November 23rd 2014 at 21:01 UTC onboard their Soyuz TMA-15M Spacecraft thanks to the power of a Russian Soyuz-FG booster from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. They are now in orbit and catching up with their destination - the International Space Station, with arrival set for later tonight at 02:50 UTC.

The crew make up the second half of Expedition 42, with the other three crew members already onboard the orbiting laboratory.