The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, carrying three new members for Expeditions 64 and 65, launched to the International Space Station at 07:42 UTC, which is 03:42 EDT or 12:42 local time at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Friday, April 9.Â
The launch came three days before the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s groundbreaking orbital flight when he became the first member of the human race to reach space.