Soyuz TMA-16M launches Scott Kelly to space station

TMA-16M launches! - Credit: NASA

And it begins. Scott Kelly, Mikhail Korniyenko and Gennady Padalka are on their way to the International Space Station. Launch was at 2:42 p.m. CDT, but it was 1:42 a.m. in Kazakhstan. 

The night sky was clear with the only light, besides the stars, was coming from the launchpad lights. As soon as the rocket engines ignited, night was no more. The Soyuz rocket began to rise, and soon, it was well on its way to orbit.

The crew is on a "fast track" to the station and will arrive in about six hours after four orbits, as opposed to a two day trek to the station.

How exactly does the Soyuz get to the station? The YouTube channel SmarterEveryday did a great interview with Scott Kelly, and Reid Wiseman to find out exactly that. You can watch the video below.

Docking is scheduled for 8:36 p.m. CDT tonight. They will dock to the space facing Poisk module.

Over the course of the yearlong mission, two major anniversaries will pass. The first is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz test project, the first joint mission between American and Russia (then the USSR). The second is the 15th anniversary of continuous crew operations at ISS.

To follow the research being done on ISS while Kelly is on orbit visit https://twitter.com/iss_research.

To see what Kelly is tweeting, follow @stationCDRKelly.