Russian spacecraft with new crew gets into near-Earth orbit

The manned Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft with three crewmembers of the new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) has entered the near-Earth orbit and started its autonomous flight to the orbital outpost, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos told TASS on Monday.

"The spacecraft separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket in a normal mode and at the designated time," Roscosmos said.

The Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the manned Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft blasted off from the first launch site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 14:31 Moscow time.

The new expedition comprises Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and astronaut of the Canadian Space Agency David Saint-Jacques. The spacecraft is due to dock with the International Space Station at 20:36 Moscow time on Monday. The new crew will stay in orbit for 194 days.

This is the first launch of a manned spacecraft after the abortive blastoff of the Soyuz carrier rocket on October 11.