NASA astronaut Kate Rubins has reached the International Space Station after the Soyuz spacecraft carrying her and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov completed a fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous path to the orbiting space lab.
Rubins and her fellow crewmembers blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:45 a.m. EDT. Their journey to the space station took a little over three hours and was the first time that a Soyuz Crew has taken the fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous path.
The new orbit path halves the time that it typically takes Soyuz crews to reach the space station.
HOW DO NASA ASTRONAUTS VOTE IN SPACE?
Capture of the Soyuz capsule was confirmed at 4:48 a.m. EDT. When the Soyuz hatch opened at 7:07 a.m. EDT, Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov joined NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Ivan Vagner, Anatoly Ivanishin onboard the space station.
“Welcome Home!” tweeted NASA.
The new arrivals will spend six months on the space lab. Space Station Commander Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner have been aboard the complex since April and are scheduled to return to Earth in a week.
VOTING IN ORBIT: NASA ASTRONAUT CASTS BALLOT FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
In November, Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov are expected to greet NASA’s SpaceX first operational Crew Dragon mission, which is bringing NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi to the space station aboard the Crew Dragon vehicle. It follows a successful Demo-2 mission earlier this year.
Rubins will also be in orbit for the U.S. election and will vote in space for the second time. The astronaut also voted in space four years ago during a 115-day stint on the International Space Station.
She voted prior to her return to Earth on Oct. 30, 2016.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers