NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and two Russian crewmates arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday on board a Russian spacecraft.

A Soyuz booster rocket launched as planned from Kazakhstan's Russia-leased Baikonur launch complex, putting the trio in orbit aboard the Soyuz MS-27. They arrived at the station slightly more than three hours later, Al Jazeera reported.

Kim and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky are expected to spend around eight months in the space station. NASA stated that Kim will undertake scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to assist train the crew for future space flights while also benefiting people on Earth, according to Al Jazeera.

Kim, a Los Angeles native, is a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy with dual designations as a naval aviator and flight surgeon.   Alongside Kim, Ryzhikov, and Zubritsky, the space outpost will also host Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, and Kirill Peskov; NASA astronauts Don Pettit, Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers; and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi.