Russian Soyuz spacecraft starts mission to return crew stranded on ISS

FILE PHOTO: Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev conducts a spacewalk with Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin (not pictured) outside the International Space Station (ISS), November 17, 2022. Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off on Friday on a mission to bring back to Earth a crew stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) by a leak in the cooling system of their original return capsule, Russian news agencies reported.

Tass news agency said the unmanned Soyuz MS-23 lifted off from Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan and had been placed in orbit. It was due to dock with the ISS on Saturday at 0101 GMT.