Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: A Russian-made Soyuz rocket blasted a three-man crew into orbit on Monday, beginning the first manned voyage to the International Space Station since a mission in October was aborted in midair because of a rocket malfunction.The Soyuz lifted off at 11.31 GMT from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and the Canadian Space Agency’s David Saint-Jacques.“We have confirmation of the spacecraft separation; Soyuz capsule and crew safely in orbit,” NASA TV said online in its blow-by-blow commentary of the take-off.The launch was closely scrutinised because of the abortive mission to the ISS on October 11, which ended two minutes after take-off when a rocket failure forced its two-man crew to perform an emergency landing.Also Read: Astronauts Set To Fly Again After Escaping Mid-Air Failure: Russian OfficialRussian investigators blamed that malfunction, which occurred as the first and second stages of a booster rocket separated, on a damaged sensor.The three-man crew appeared briefly before relatives and reporters on Monday morning, waving and blowing kisses as they left a hotel to board a bus on their way to prepare for the flight.The International Space Station (ISS) crew member David Saint-Jacques of Canada gestures shortly before their launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan December 3, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Shamil ZhumatovThe crew repeatedly denied being nervous about flying and insisted the fact that the two-man crew had safely returned to Earth despite the dramatic mishap had demonstrated the reliability of the rocket’s safety mechanisms.Before take-off, an Orthodox priest at the launchpad on Sunday gave his blessing to the flight, splashing holy water from a brush and holding up a cross.The spacecraft is due to dock at the ISS at 1736 GMT on Monday.The new arrivals to the ISS will join the European Space Agency’s Alexander Gerst, NASA’s Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russia‘s Sergey Prokopyev, who have been in orbit since June but are due to fly back to Earth on Dec. 20.(Reuters)