Russian spacecraft blasts off from Baikonur to deliver new crew to world's sole orbit

BAIKONUR. KAZINFORM - A Russian Soyuz MS-05 manned spacecraft has blasted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan to deliver a new expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), a TASS correspondent reports from the scene.

"In about nine and a half minutes, the spaceship will reach the orbit," the press office of Russia's State Space Corporation Roscosmos said.

The new expedition members include Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanski, US astronaut Randolph Bresnik and Italian astronaut from the European Space Agency Paolo Nespoli, TASS reports.