NASA

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 35/36 Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy (right), Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov (center) and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin clasp hands for photographers prior to the start of qualification simulation runs in a Soyuz spacecraft mock-up on March 5, 2013.

By Clara MoskowitzSpace.com

Three men are poised to make history today when they blast off on a rocket ride Thursdaythat will reach the International Space faster than any astronauts to fly there before.

NASA astronautChris Cassidyand Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov are due to arrive at the orbiting laboratory just six hours after they launch at 4:43 p.m. EDT. The liftoff will begin a months-long mission in orbit for the three men.

The trio will blast off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The mission's Soyuz rocket rolled out to the launch pad on Tuesdayto prepare for today's liftoff.

You can watch the launch live here onSpace.com's NASA TV feed beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

In the nearly 13 years since crews first began launching to the International Space Station, it has taken Russian Soyuz capsules and U.S. space shuttles about two days to reach the orbiting lab after liftoff. Now, NASA and Russia's Federal Space Agency are testing out anew, accelerated schedule. [Soyuz's 1-Day Trip to Space Station Explained (Infographic)]

The quick journey, which takes just four orbits of Earth, has been carried out by recent unmanned cargo spacecraft visiting the space station, but never by a crew.

NASA / Carla Cioffi

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Ultra-fast ride to space station