Soyuz-2.1a rocket booster with the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft

BAIKONUR COSMODROME. KAZINFORM A Russian Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a manned spacecraft named after Yuri Gagarin blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The carrier rocket lifted off from Site 31 of the Baikonur spaceport (the Vostok launch pad) at 10:42 Moscow time. The spacecraft will deliver Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the International Space Station (ISS), TASS reports.

The manned spacecraft will be delivered into orbit in nine minutes. Its docking to the space station’s Rassvet module is scheduled for 14:07 Moscow time on April 9.