The first upgraded Russian Soyuz spaceship with three astronauts on board has blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan early Friday, local media reported.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft, carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, blasts off from its launchpad at the Baikonur cosmodrome October 8, 2010. [Xinhua]

Russian TV showed that a Soyuz-FG rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft blasted off at 3:11 a.m. Moscow time (2311 GMT Thursday) from the southern Kazakh steppe as scheduled. It has now entered the designated orbit, said a Baikonur spokesman.

The spacecraft was scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) after two days of flight in automatic mode at 4:02 a.m. Moscow time (0002 GMT) on Sunday.

The expedition of the latest ISS crew, consisting of Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, as well as NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, will last for over five months.

They will join the existing 25th mission at the space station comprising NASA astronauts Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker, as well as Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

According to local media reports, the famous red-haired Russian spy Anna Chapman had waved goodbye to the astronauts before they went into orbit at the farewell ceremony held in Baikonur space center.

Some 30 children aged between 12 and 14 years old also chanted songs to escort the three astronauts when they boarded the spaceship at the Baikonur center.

Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft, the first of the new series of Soyuz spacecraft, was equipped with new digital computing and telemetric systems, whose weight was thus reduced by 70 kg.

Construction of the modernized spacecraft was also improved to make it easier to manufacture.

Russian manned spaceships had used analogue gears for more than 30 years.

The new Soyuz TMA-M series will gradually replace the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft currently in service.