Russia's Soyuz-FG booster rocket with the Soyuz MS space ship is carrying new crew to the International Space Station. Photo: AP

New York: A three-member multinational crew has blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan for a two-day trip to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Kathleen "Kate" Rubins, Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday.

The crew is due to arrive on Friday at the station, which orbits about 400km above earth, to begin a four-month mission.

Rubins, Ivanishin and Onishi will join NASA astronaut and station commander Jeff Williams and two Russian cosmonauts who have been aboard the orbital outpost since March.

Wednesday's launch marked the debut flight of a next-generation Russian Soyuz capsule, now the only vehicles capable of ferrying astronauts and cosmonauts to and from the station, a $US100 billion ($133.05 billion) project of 15 countries.

Reuters