On Apollo 11 anniversary, US astronaut blasts off to the space station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft

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Soyuz rocket heads to International Space Station

The rocket launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan with one Italian astronaut and one American astronaut on board.

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan blasted off to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan Saturday, on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Morgan, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Russian Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft.

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The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-13 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Saturday, July 20, 2019. The Russian rocket U.S. astronaut Andrew Morgan, Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Selected by NASA in 2013, Morgan is making his first trip to space. A U.S. Army emergency physician, Morgan served in special operations units worldwide prior to becoming an astronaut. He will spend nine months on the orbiting space lab.

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Morgan's spacecraft is expected to dock with the space station on Saturday evening.

“The trio’s arrival will return the orbiting laboratory’s population to six, including three NASA astronauts,” explains NASA, on its website. “The Expedition 60 crew will continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard humanity’s only permanently occupied microgravity laboratory.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers