Three people launched to the International Space Station (ISS) today (September 11) in a Russian Soyuz capsule, bringing the total number of people in Earth orbit to 19.

“With the trio now in orbit, there is a record 19 people in orbit,” NASA commentator Anna Snyder said during the agency’s webcast of the Soyuz liftoff.

The old record was 17, set last year.

The Soyuz that launched today is carrying NASA’s Don Pettit and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. The trio is expected to arrive at the ISS around 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT), just three hours after launch.

Roscosmos lead cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, center and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin salute before boarding the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft for launch, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan/ PHOTO AP

LIVE: NASA astronaut Don Pettit (@Astro_Pettit) is set to lift off to the @Space_Station from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. Launch is scheduled for 12:23pm ET (1623 UTC). https://t.co/LwF82zcPQd

They will join nine people aboard the orbiting lab and will be joined by NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps, Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams and cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin and Oleg Kononenko. .