The remainder of the Expedition 26 crew successfully blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a five-month stay in space, NASA announced.

NASA's Catherine Coleman, Russia's Dimitry Kondratyev and the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli of Italy launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft at 11:09 a.m. PST and are expected to dock to the International Space Station on Friday.

There they will join Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka of Russia to continue scientific research and station maintenance, as well as welcome several visiting vehicles. 

Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka have been residents of the orbiting laboratory since Oct. 9.

The new Expedition 26 trio will become the Expedition 27 crew when Kelly, Kaleri and Skripochka return to Earth in March.

"NASA astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Andrei Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev will join Coleman, Kondratyev and Nespoli aboard the station on April 1 to complete the Expedition 27 crew," the agency said. "Their launch is set for March 30."

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