Bill Ingalls / NASA via AFP - Getty Images

The Soyuz TMA-04M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 15, 2012.

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

The Soyuz TMA-04M rocket blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday night.

Mikhail Metzel / AP

U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba, left, Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka , center, and Sergei Revin, right, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station.

Bill Ingalls / AP

An Orthodox Christian priest blesses members of the media shortly after blessing the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Launch pad Monday.

Space.com reports: A Russian rocket launched three astronauts toward the International Space Station late Monday night, kicking off a two-day journey to the huge orbiting lab.

The Soyuz is slated to dock with the space station shortly after midnight ET Thursday. Once aboard, the three spacefliers will bring the orbiting complex back to its full complement of six residents. Their fellow Expedition 31 crew members — NASA's Don Pettit, Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko — have had the station to themselves since April 27.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

•Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter

Mikhail Metzel / AFP - Getty Images

Russia's Soyuz TMA-22 rocket stands at a launch pad in the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, early on November 14.

msnbc.com staff and news services report from MOSCOW:

Three astronauts were lofted into orbit amid heavy snowfall on Monday, on a mission to bring the crew of the International Space Station back to full strength.

The U.S.-Russian crew is the first to enter orbit since NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July, heralding a period of several years when the space station's partners will have to rely solely on Russia to ferry crews. Read the full story.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Russian Soyuz spacecraft takes a train to launchpad

Mikhail Metzel / AP

A Russian Soyuz TMA-22 space ship which will carry a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) is transported to the launch pad of the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Nov. 11. The launch of the new Soyuz mission with U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank, Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 14.

Vyacheslav Oseledko / AFP - Getty Images

Russian police officers guard the Soyuz TMA-22 rocket during its transportation to the launch pad on Nov. 11.

Vyacheslav Oseledko / AFP - Getty Images

The Soyuz TMA-22 rocket is mounted at the launch pad on Nov. 11.

Mikhail Metzel / AP

The Soyuz TMA-22 rocket is installed at the launch pad on Nov. 11.

A new trio of International Space Station residents, Expedition 29 Flight Engineers Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:14 p.m. ET Sunday aboard the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft, according to NASA.

Five days later Expedition 29 will end when crewmates Commander Mike Fossum and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov return home inside the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft.

Related content:

• November 8 - Russian mission to Martian moon stuck in Earth orbit
• November 2 - Russian craft delivers supplies to space station
• September 16 - US-Russian space crew returns safely to Earth
• December 4, 2010 - Soyuz crew prepares for trip to International Space Station