Two other crew members are NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Briton Tim Peake.
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“There’s a wonderful opportunity to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers”, Peake said during a press conference at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan before his launch.
Alongside Malenchenko, a veteran of long-duration space flights who is on his fourth space mission, were NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Briton Tim Peake, both former Apache military helicopter pilots.
The ISS space laboratory has been orbiting the Earth at roughly 28,000 kilometres per hour since 1998.
They will be welcomed by Expedition 46 commander Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov.
The astronaut left for space – together with fellow crew members American Tim Kopra and Russian Yuri Malenchenko – aboard a Kazakhstan-built Soyuz rocket at 11:03 GMT on Tuesday.
But for Tim Peake, Britain’s first official astronaut, they marked the culmination of six years of training for a historic space flight. “We will be following his progress with great interest and wish him a safe return to earth next year”.
The hatch opened at 19:59 GMT – allowing the British, Russian and American astronauts to step out of the capsule – just over two hours after their Russian Soyuz TMA-19 capsule docked on the side.
The European Space Agency tweeted that fuelling has begun – filling the Russian rocket with 274 tonnes of fuel.
It will reach orbit in under ten minutes. His first scientific task is already underway: During his transit from Earth to ISS in the Soyuz rocket, Peake was expected to fill out a questionnaire on any headaches he experienced. Whatever you need to keep the space station running and to keep the science moving forward up there, he is ready to do.
During his six-month mission, called Principia in homage to Sir Isaac Newton’s ground-breaking text on gravity and motion, he will participate in some 265 experiments and engage with schools around the UK. “But I think once you’re up in space, anything that reminds you of home is going to be beneficial and going to be welcome”.
Major Peake’s wife Rebecca was heard to say: “Wasn’t it an awesome sight?”
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Malenchenko, a Russian cosmonaut who turns 54 next week, will have spent more than 800 days in space by the time his sixth spaceflight ends in May, ranking him among the top three people all-time.
