A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian, an American and a Canadian blasts off on Wednesday.

The Russian-built spaceship lifted off on schedule from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan en route to the International Space Station.

Canadian Chris Hadfield is accompanied on the mission by U.S. astronaut Tom Mashburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

They'll join one American and two Russians who are already manning the 100 billion dollar, 15-nation research station.