MOSCOW: Russia’s Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft carrying three astronauts successfully took off for the International Space Station (ISS) and entered the planned orbit on Saturday, Russian state space corporation Roscosmos said.

The Soyuz-FG rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7.28 p.m. (Moscow time), Roscosmos said in a press release, international media reported.

At 7.37 p.m., the spacecraft detached from the third launch vehicle stage and continued its autonomous flight to the ISS under the guidance of specialists from the Russian Mission Control Centre.

Soyuz MS-13, carrying Roscosmos astronaut Alexander Skvortsov (commander), Luca Parmitano (flight engineer-1) from Italy and Andrew Morgan (flight engineer-2) of the US, will automatically approach the ISS and dock to it at 1..50 a.m (Moscow time) on Sunday.