Russia's space agency Roscosmos has successfully launched a manned Soyuz rocket carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time since October's aborted mission.

NASA's Anne McClain, Russia's Oleg Kononenko, Canada's David Saint-Jacques were aboard the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Monday as part of Expedition 58.

After launching at 11.31am UK time, the three successfully docked at the International Space Station at 5.33pm - three minutes ahead of schedule.

Image: Russia's Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft successfully launched on Monday

About two hours later, at 7.40pm, the hatch was opened and they entered the ISS as it flew over the southern coast of Yemen.

The trio aboard the rocket will be on the International Space Station for six-and-a-half months before heading back to Earth.


Image: The three arriving members entered the ISS after spending eight hours in a tiny capsule

The evening before the launch, crew commander Oleg Kononenko said the astronauts "absolutely" had trust in the flight preparations.

"Risk is part of our profession," the 54-year-old said. "We are psychologically and technically prepared for blast-off and any situation which, God forbid, may occur on board."

Anne McClain, the 39-year-old former military pilot and NASA astronaut, said the crew looked forward to going up. "We feel very ready for it," she said.

Welcome to Space! The trio is now safely in orbit and solar arrays have successfully deployed on their Soyuz spacecraft. They will now embark on six-hour chasedown of the @Space_Station and are expected to arrive later today: https://t.co/FRrjhIw77o pic.twitter.com/2wmO3vC7iT — NASA (@NASA) December 3, 2018

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, 48, agreed that the Soyuz spacecraft was "incredibly safe".

The mission marked the 100th orbital launch of 2018, and the first time in 28 years that humanity reached that number of launches within a calendar year.

It was the first manned mission for Russia since October, when NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin were forced to make an emergency landing shortly after launch following a rocket malfunction.

The malfunction affected the booster rocket, which appeared to fail to separate properly. The pair landed safely about 12 miles east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

A criminal investigation into the failure placed the blame on a sensor which had been damaged during assembly.

Congratulations on a successful launch @Astro_DavidS @AstroAnnimal & Oleg Kononenko! Good to have 6 people back in space again - enjoy the view :) pic.twitter.com/kB10VsVGaM — Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) December 3, 2018

Russia's space agency Roscosmos has now successfully launched five Soyuz rockets since the incident, and does not believe there is a chance of the failure repeating.

The astronauts who were forced to make an emergency landing will attempt to launch again next spring.

The launch comes amid apparent political turmoil in Russia, where the Federal Security Service (FSB) has come into conflict with the cash-strapped space agency Roscosmos over a $1bn contract to launch private satellites on behalf of a US company.

The FSB reportedly intervened to demand the cancellation of the contract between US firm OneWeb and state corporation Roscosmos to launch a constellation of internet-connectivity satellites.

But the space agency's chief executive, former deputy prime minister Dimitry Rogozin, has been bullish about the project, according to Russian news agency Interfax.