A Russian rocket carrying a crew of three, including a NASA astronaut, launches successfully
Some good news for the ISS.
The first Russian rocket to fly with people since a harrowing failure two months ago blasted off Monday morning in a successful return to flight.
The Soyuz rocket and spacecraft launched at 5:31 p.m. local time (6:31 a.m. Eastern time) with three people on board — NASA astronaut Anne C. McClain, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko — en route to the International Space Station from a remote launch site in Kazakhstan.
“A great launch,” a NASA commentator said during a live stream of the event.
Six hours later, the spacecraft reached the station and docked with it, culminating a successful mission. The crew is expected to stay on the station until June.