A Russian Soyuz spacecraft was successfully launched Sunday to the International Space Station with three astronauts from Japan, Russia and the United States on board.

The spacecraft carrying Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Anton Shkaplerov of Russia's Roscosmos agency and Scott Tingle of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration is expected to arrive at the ISS on Tuesday afternoon.

The Soyuz successfully moved into orbit about nine minutes after the launch at 1:21 p.m. local time (4:21 p.m. JST) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

For Kanai, a former Maritime Self-Defense Force doctor, it is his first trip into space. He will take part in a number of space missions during his stay at the space station through June 3.

The 41-year-old is the 12th Japanese astronaut to travel into space and the seventh to stay at the ISS for a period of months.

In the Japanese laboratory Kibo on the ISS, Kanai is expected to conduct scientific experiments to create crystal protein substances for future new drug development, engage in feeding mice for examination of the effects of a space environment on their health, and discharge an ultra compact satellite into space.