Russia launches first manned trip to ISS since rocket accident

By Shamil Zhumatov BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (Reuters) – A Russian-built Soyuz rocket carried a three-person crew into orbit on Monday, beginning the first crewed trip to the International Space Station since a mission was aborted in October because of a mid-air rocket malfunction. The Soyuz blasted off at 11:31 GMT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency. “We have confirmation of spacecraft separation; Soyuz capsule and crew are safely in orbit,” NASA TV online reported in its detailed commentary on the launch. The launch was closely watched because of the aborted mission to the ISS on Oct. 11, which ended two minutes after liftoff when a rocket failure forced the two-person crew to make an emergency landing. Russian investigators attributed the malfunction, which occurred when the first and second stages of a booster rocket separated, to a damaged sensor. The three-member crew briefly appeared before relatives and reporters on Monday morning, waving and blowing kisses as they left a hotel to board a bus and prepare for the flight. The crew repeatedly denied being nervous about the flight, insisting that the fact that the two-person crew returned safely to Earth despite the dramatic incident proved the reliability of the rocket’s safety mechanisms. Before liftoff, an Orthodox priest on the launch pad on Sunday gave the flight his blessing by splashing holy water from a brush and holding up a cross. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 17:36 GMT on Monday. The new arrivals at the ISS will join Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev, who have been in orbit since June but are scheduled to return to Earth on Dec. 20. (Additional reporting by Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow, writing by Tom Balmforth, editing by Larry King Williams)