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Astronauts living on the International Space Station captured amazing views of a Soyuz rocket streaking into orbit from Kazakhstan with nearly 3 tons of supplies destined for the massive research complex.

Sailing more than 250 miles over Central Asia, the station crew recorded photos of the Soyuz rocket speeding above cities and barren badlands downrange from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where it blasted off at 1623:57 GMT (12:23:57 p.m. EDT).

The Progress MS-02 cargo craft separated from the Soyuz rocket’s third stage about 8 minutes, 45 seconds later. Docking with the outpost’s Zvezda service module is set for approximately 1800 GMT (2 p.m. EDT) Saturday.

Read our full story for details on what the Progress MS-02 supply ship is carrying.

The images below were tweeted by NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and European Space Agency flight engineer Tim Peake, members of the space station’s Expedition 47 crew. Other images posted here include a video of the launch provided by the Russian space agency and still photos from RSC Energia, the prime contractor for Russia’s human spaceflight program.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.