--- description: Kelly takes off along with Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Pedalka title: Watch Scott Kelly Take Off for the International Space Station image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ee92822aefe896f/6987859ee53aba414d4d84cf/scott-kelly-rocket-launch-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [A Year In Space](/tag/a-year-in-space/) ## A Year In Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Astronaut Scott Kelly Takes Off for International Space Station  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Mar 27, 2015 3:43 PM CUT  From left: US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko walk after their space suits were tested at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome late on March 27, 2015 From left: US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko walk after their space suits were tested at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome late on March 27, 2015Kirill Kudryavtsev—AFP/Getty Images  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Mar 27, 2015 3:43 PM CUT It took Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko and Gannady Padalka less than nine minutes to drive to work on Saturday. That’s the easy part. The hard part is that Padalka won’t punch out for six months; for Kornienko and Kelly, [it will be a year.](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ "undefined") **MORE**: [_Watch the Trailer for TIME’s Unprecedented New Series: A Year In Space_](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ "undefined") Their office, of course, is the International Space Station (ISS). And their drive began at 3:42 p.m. ET Friday, or 1:42 a.m. Saturday in Kazakhstan, where their Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, en route to space. The 510-second sprint to low-Earth orbit will be followed by a six-hour chase, in which the Soyuz will slowly gain ground on the station, finally docking at about the same time people in Kazakhstan will be arriving at their decidedly more prosaic places of business. TIME will be covering Kelly’s mission in the new series, [A Year In Space](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ "undefined"). Watch the trailer [here](http://time.com/space-nasa-scott-kelly-mission/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3755910/international-space-station-launch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3755910/international-space-station-launch/"},"headline":"Astronaut Scott Kelly Takes Off for International Space Station","datePublished":"2015-03-27T15:43:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:23:32.353Z","description":"A fiery display marks the start of a remarkable mission","url":"https://time.com/3755910/international-space-station-launch/","keywords":["A Year In Space","Space","NASA","international space station","Astronaut","Soyuz","Space Exploration","scott kelly"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ee92822aefe896f/6987859ee53aba414d4d84cf/scott-kelly-rocket-launch-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ee92822aefe896f/6987859ee53aba414d4d84cf/scott-kelly-rocket-launch-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"From left: US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko walk after their space suits were tested at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome late on March 27, 2015","caption":"From left: US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko walk after their space suits were tested at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome late on March 27, 2015","creditText":"Kirill Kudryavtsev—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3755910/international-space-station-launch/","name":"Astronaut Scott Kelly Takes Off for International Space Station"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space: The Mission","description":"On March 28, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly begins a historic year in Space. 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