Three astronauts aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in the early hours of Wednesday successfully launched towards the International Space Station, where they are expected to dock in two days time.

The spacecraft blasted off on schedule from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe at 0437 GMT, carrying Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Kazakhstan's Aidyn Aimbetov from Kazakhstan and Denmark's Andreas Mogensen.

"The crew is doing well, every thing is in order on board," said Mission Control at Baikonur.