Soyuz arrives at ISS on first manned mission since October failure

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan: A Soyuz spacecraft carrying Russian, American and Canadian astronauts arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, following the first manned launch since a failed launch in October.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Anne McClain of Nasa and David Saint- Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome earlier in the day.

They successfully docked at the ISS on schedule at 1736 GMT to begin an expected six and a half months aboard the ISS, the Russian Roscosmos space agency said via Twitter.

It was the first manned voyage for the Soviet- era Soyuz since October 11, when a rocket carrying Russia’s Aleksey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague failed just minutes after blast- off, forcing the pair to make a harrowing emergency landing.

They escaped unharmed but the failed launch – the first such incident in Russia’s post- Soviet history – raised concerns about the state of the Soyuz programme.

The Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS since the United States retired the space shuttle in 2011.

Kononenko, McClain and Saint- Jacques smiled and gave thumbs up to the cheering crowd including relatives as they ascended into the Soyuz capsule on Monday morning.

Minutes after take off, Roscosmos said the capsule was in orbit. Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine meanwhile thanked the US and Russian teams “for their dedication to making this launch a success”.

In a successful rehearsal for Monday’s f light, a Soyuz cargo vessel took off on November 16 from Baikonur and delivered several tonnes of food, fuel and supplies to the ISS.

Russia said last month the October launch had failed because of a sensor damaged during assembly at the Baikonur cosmodrome, but insisted the spacecraft remained reliable.

While flight commander Kononenko is beginning his fourth mission to add to an impressive 533 days in space, both Saint- Jacques and McClain are making their maiden trip.

Crew commander Kononenko, 54, said during a press conference on the eve of the launch that “risk is part of our profession”. But he added that his team “absolutely” trusted those who had prepared for the flight.