Kazakhstan ? A Russian-American crew and Brazil’s first astronaut flew into orbit Thursday onboard a Russian rocket that’s taking them on a two-day trip to the international space station.

The Soyuz-FG rocket with a Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft attached to it lifted off just after dawn from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, taking Russian Pavel Vinogradov and American Jeffrey Williams to the station for their six month-stay.

Also on board was Brazil’s first man in space, Marcos C. Pontes, who will stay at the station for nine days.