Multimedia roundup: Flawless ride to orbit for Expedition 48 crew

Kate Rubins, Takuya Onishi and Anatoly Ivanishin are safely in orbit following an early morning liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Riding in an upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft, the trio blasted off at 9:36 p.m. EDT Wednesday (1:36 UTC Thursday). The Expedition 48 crew will spend two days on orbit helping Russian ground controllers test out the new vehicle's systems before arriving at the International Space Station early Saturday morning. 

Further reading: Expedition 48 preview article

Docking: 12:12 a.m. EDT (4:12 UTC) July 9
NASA TV coverage begins 11:30 p.m. EDT July 8

Hatches open at about 2:50 a.m. EDT July 9

Here's the launch video:

And here's your feature photo. Fantastic framing by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls!

Here are more images from NASA's Flickr gallery. The traditional orthodox blessing:

The crew boards their Soyuz:

The "all-for-one" pose:

And another launch shot:

Roscosmos also posted a few rare crew boarding shots, and a picture from the top of the launch tower: 

Finally, the views from Mission Control in Houston: