Russian spacecraft blasts off safely

Three astronauts successfully blasted off to the International Space Station on Monday from Kazakhstan following an aborted mission in October. A Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft carrying American Anne McClain, Canadian David Saint-Jacques, and Russian Oleg Kononenko launched from the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA confirmed the spacecraft safely entered orbit just under 9 minutes after take off. The spacecraft will dock at the space station later Monday after making four orbits around Earth. The three astronauts will spend six months conducting research and experiments in biology, physical sciences, and technology.

On Oct. 11, a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut touched down safely after a malfunction occurred 2 minutes into flight. A Russian investigation blamed the incident on a sensor damaged during the rocket’s final assembly. It was the first aborted crew launch for the Russian space program since 1983, when two Soviet cosmonauts safely ejected after a launch pad explosion.