Italy's 60-year-old astronaut Paolo Nespoli started a new mission to space on Friday, when the Russian Soyuz spacecraft lifted off to take him to the International Space Station (ISS). Lift-off from the Baikonur base in Kazakhstan took place on time at 17:41 central European time. "Beam me up S…oyuz! Hitching another ride soon to the @Space_Station with @AstroKomrade & @Ryazanskiy_ISS #VITAMission #Exp52_53," said the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut via the @astro_paolo Twitter account before takeoff.

The tweet featured a video of Nespoli is his space suit entitled 'Let's do this!'. It is Nespoli's third mission in 10 years.