Dhaka, Nov. 29 -- A three-member US-Russian crew has begun an eight-month mission aboard the International Space Station following a launch from Kazakhstan on Thursday.

The Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft lifted off at 2:27pm from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Mikaev and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov. The spacecraft docked with the ISS at 5:34pm

This mission marks the first spaceflight for Williams, a physicist, and Mikaev, a military pilot, while Kud-Sverchkov is on his second voyage.

The crew will join current ISS residents: NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, Jonny Kim; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui; and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov, Alexei Zub...