On December 3, 2018 at 11:31 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-11” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-FG” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (center), Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques (right) and American astronaut Anne McClain (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

It is the first crew launch for Russian space program since a Soyuz booster failure led to the emergency landing of a two-man crew in October. The “Soyuz MS-11” space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station at the same day. Kononenko, Saint-Jacques and McClain will join current ISS expedition members Prokopiev, Gerst and Auñón-Chancellor.