Russian Soyuz blasts off for ISS in first launch since accident

[November 19, 2018]    MOSCOW (Reuters) - An unmanned rocket carrying cargo blasted off into space on Friday in the first launch of a Russian-made Soyuz-FG rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome since a dramatic aborted launch in October.

The Soyuz booster carrying the Progress MS-10 cargo craft blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS) from the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan November 17, 2018. Russian State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS/Handout via REUTERS

The rocket took off with a Progress MS-10 spacecraft at 18:14 GMT (00:14 local time) carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Progress MS-10 is expected to dock at the ISS on Nov. 18, Russia's space agency said.

The last manned mission to the ISS was abruptly cut short on Oct. 11 two minutes after liftoff when the Soyuz-FG rocket failed, forcing a Russian cosmonaut and U.S. astronaut to perform an emergency landing.

The rocket failure was caused by a sensor that was damaged during assembly at the Soviet era-cosmodrome at Baikonur, according to Russian investigators.

The first manned mission to the ISS since the failure is due to take off at the beginning of December.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Peter Graff)

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