Washington, Jul 22 (EFE).– Russia on Wednesday launched a manned space mission to the International Space Station two months behind schedule because of recent problems with other launches.

The Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft carrying a Russian, an American and a Japanese astronaut lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2102 GMT and began its climb into orbit where it will rendezvous with the ISS, a maneuver that will take just 5 hours and 43 minutes, NASA reported on its Web site.

This mission was postponed in May after the Soyuz-2.1a rocket failed the month before during the launch of the Progress M-27M unmanned cargo vessel carrying supplies for the ISS. The rocket ended up going off course and disintegrating.

On board Wednesday’s mission are Russia’s Oleg Kononenko, American Kjell Lindgren and Japan’s Kimiya Yui.

Kononenko has flown on two previous space missions to the ISS, but Lindgren and Yui are going into space for the first time.

Currently on board the ISS are Russians Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka and American Scott Kelly. EFE