Soyuz spacecraft blasts off for International Space Station with Russian and American crew

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft blasted ​off for the International Space ‌Station (ISS) on Thursday with two ‌Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board, a live stream of the launch showed.

The Soyuz 2.1a rocket lifted ⁠off from the ‌Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:28 pm Moscow time (‍0928 GMT).

The crew included Russian commander Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, making his second spaceflight, ​fellow Russian cosmonaut Sergei Mikayev, ‌and NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, both flying to space for the first time.

After lift-off, the Soyuz was scheduled to orbit the Earth twice before performing ⁠an automated docking with ​the ISS Rassvet module at ​1238 GMT later on Thursday.

Once docked, the crew will enter the ‍ISS where ⁠they are due to spend the next eight months. Their return to ⁠Earth is currently planned for late July 2026.

‌(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Maxim ‌RodionovEditing by Andrew Osborn)