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Russian rocket with manned spacecraft blasts off to ISS

Xinhua, March 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Russian Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the Soyuz TMA-20M manned space vehicle lifted off early Saturday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, local media reported.

The capsule carrying Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka, as well as U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, blasted off at 00:26 a.m. Moscow time (2126 GMT) for a ride to the International Space Station (ISS).

The spacecraft carrying the Expedition 48 crew is expected to dock with the ISS six hours later. The new crewmembers are expected to stay at the space station for 173 days.

Currently, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Britain's Tim Peake were on board the ISS. Endit