The four U.S., Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday.

When it launches, Crew-11 will embark on a roughly 40-hour flight to catch up with the International Space Station, orbiting at a speed of about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) some 248 miles (400 kilometers) above the surface of Earth.