U.S.-Russian crew blasts off for space station

[October 19, 2016]    BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Reuters) - A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a two-day journey to the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft carrying the crew of Shane Kimbrough of the U.S., Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Russia blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS) from the launchpad at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, October 19, 2016. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

The Soyuz space ship carrying NASA's Shane Kimbrough and Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 14:05 local time (0805 GMT) and reached orbit about eight minutes later.

It will travel in space for two days before docking at the station, which orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

The trio will replace three ISS crew members - Kate Rubins of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - who are due to return to Earth on Oct.29.

Wednesday's launch was originally scheduled for Sept.23, but was postponed because of technical problems with the Soyuz that have since been fixed.

(Reporting by Shamil Zhumatov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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