Soyuz launched on four-orbit flight to space station

Updated 11:13 PM ET

A veteran Russian commander, a rookie cosmonaut and a Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut rocketed into space Thursday and glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station less than six hours later, a record-setting rendezvous being tested to reduce the time crew members have to spend cooped up inside the cramped Soyuz ferry craft.

Soyuz TMA-08M commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and shuttle veteran Christopher Cassidy blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:43:20 p.m. EDT Thursday (GMT-4; 2:43 a.m. Friday local time).

Launching almost directly into the plane of the space station's orbit, the Soyuz rocket quickly accelerated away atop a churning jet of fiery exhaust, trailing the space station by about 1,056 miles at the moment of liftoff.

Live television views from inside the command module showed Vinogradov in the cockpit's center seat, flanked by Misurkin to his left and Cassidy to his right. All three crew members appeared relaxed as they monitored the computer-orchestrated ascent.

"Everything's completely nominal up here on the spacecraft," Vinogradov reported at one point. "We feel great."

Just under nine minutes after launch, the Soyuz TMA-08 spacecraft was released into its planned orbit, followed a few moments later by deployment of the craft's solar panels and antennas.

Vladimir Popovkin, director general of the Russian federal space agency, radioed his compliments.

"Congratulations on having successfully completed stage one," he called. "We're standing by to have you guys come close to the station in about six hours from now."

"Thank you, Mr. Popovkin," Vinogradov replied.

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Soyuz launched on four-orbit flight to space station