Seen From Space! Crew’s Rocket Launch Spotted By NASA Astronaut In Orbit

Seriously, how cool is this picture? The International Space Station crew caught an incredible view of their three future crewmates rocketing up to meet them today around 5:17 p.m. EDT (9:17 p.m. UTC).

Expedition 39’s Rick Mastracchio (from NASA) shared this on Twitter, casually mentioning that he will expect more crewmates to arrive later today. Upon the rocket were Steve Swanson (NASA), Alexander Skvortsov (Roscosmos) and Oleg Artemyev (Roscosmos).

Check out the launch video and some NASA pictures of the activities below the jump. (Update, 10:21 p.m. EDT: One of the engine firings did not take place as planned, meaning the astronauts will not dock with the station as planned tonight. The crew is safe and doing a standard backup plan that will bring them to the station on Thursday. We will provide updates as the situation progresses.)

#ISS #Exp39 arrives at #Soyuz launch pad. Watch launch live at 4:15p ET at http://t.co/qrm0Dzmt3M pic.twitter.com/NFXMBflKiY

— NASA (@NASA) March 25, 2014

 

Tune to NASA TV for #Exp39 #Soyuz launch to #ISS. Coverage at 4:15p ET, launch at 5:17p http://t.co/qrm0Dzmt3M pic.twitter.com/4WrM8gdL8F

— NASA (@NASA) March 25, 2014

 

First image of #Exp39 crew in #Soyuz with Quack the duck, who will let them know when they’re in 0-g pic.twitter.com/fpNQmJB0Y9

— NASA (@NASA) March 25, 2014

 

The #Exp39 crew launched to the #ISS aboard a #Soyuz rocket at 5:17pm ET. They will dock with station at 11:05pm. pic.twitter.com/ep07MpVazf

— NASA (@NASA) March 25, 2014

 

And follow #Swanny as he becomes first @NASA_Astronaut to Instagram from space!  http://t.co/WEhYJoVgxn pic.twitter.com/7cDkHxEsyi

— Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 25, 2014