MOSCOW, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, sending the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut into near-Earth orbit.
The spacecraft lifted off at 12:28 p.m. Moscow time (0928 GMT). It is expected to complete two orbits of the Earth and dock with the International Space Station (ISS) in approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes.
The crew's ISS mission is scheduled to last 242 days. During this period, more than 40 experiments will be conducted under the Russian program, with two spacewalks planned for April and June 2026. ■
