On Friday, three astronauts were launched from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the International Space Station where they will begin an orbital stay for one year.

After six hours of the launch, the Russian Soyuz capsule docked with the orbital outpost. The launch took place from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:42 p.m. ET and it docked with the orbital outpost at 9.34 pm ET.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend a year on the station. Kelly and Kornienko will undergo tests, including strict medical monitoring for studies, aimed to know how long-term stay in space affects human body.

Both of them would not be setting a world record as earlier Russian cosmonauts have been in space for as long as 437 days. But the third member, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, could set a record for himself.

If he stays on the orbit until his scheduled time, the total number of days he has stayed in the space will be nearly 900 days. Generally, the stay on the ISS lasts for four to six months. NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have made changes in the schedule so that it could be known how things would work during longer trips.

It is already known that long-term spaceflight leads to bone loss, muscle loss and vision problems. For this mission, it is expected that it could be know how to cope with the health issues. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “Scott Kelly's mission is critical to advancing the administration's plan to send humans on a journey to Mars. We'll gain new, detailed insights on the ways long-duration spaceflight affects the human body”.

NASA's Terry Virts, Italy's Samantha Cristoforetti and Russia's Anton Shkaplerov will welcome the newly arrived crew members.