Russia launches Soyuz spacecraft to rescue astronauts trapped in space

Two cosmonauts and a Nasa astronaut are stranded at the International Space Station

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  Russia announced plans to leave the International Space Station after 2024 and build an independent one. Reuters

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  A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket booster at the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport, in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to Russia. Reuters

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  A Soyuz-2.1a is readied for launch. Nasa has announced that it will resume flights to the International Space Station with Russia.

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  This is taking place despite Washington's attempts to isolate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. AFP

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  Nasa's announcement came hours Dmitry Rogozin was dismissed as head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency. AFP

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  A vocal backer of Russia's invasion, Mr Rogozin, had said US astronauts should get to the ISS 'on trampolines' rather than Russian rockets. AFP

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  Earlier this month, Russia's former Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov was appointed as the new director-general of Roscosmos. AP

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  A Russian rocket to the ISS launched since the invasion bore the inscription Donbas and its nose cone and had the flags of breakaway enclaves painted on it. AP

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  The Soyuz rocket blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The last Nasa astronaut to take a Soyuz to the ISS was Mark Vande Hei in 2021. AP

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  Nasa said the ISS was always designed to be operated jointly. Reuters

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  The space agencies of the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada participate. Reuters

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  US astronaut Mark Vande Hei has a spectacular view of Earth from inside the ISS. AP

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  Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei of Nasa, left, returns from the ISS with cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, centre, and Pyotr Dubrov. EPA

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  Their Russian Soyuz MS-19 space capsule lands south-east of the town of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. AP

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  A Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft carrying Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov approaches to dock with the ISS. Reuters

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  A spectacular night-time Soyuz launch. AFP

Russia's Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft blasted off on a mission to rescue two cosmonauts and a Nasa astronaut stranded at the International Space Station after a leak in the cooling system of their capsule.

The unmanned craft lifted off from Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan and had been placed in orbit, Russian news agency Tass reported.

The Soyuz capsule was expected to dock with the ISS early on Sunday.

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and US astronaut Francisco Rubio were left stranded in space after the cooling system of their Soyuz MS-22 capsule started leaking two months ago.

They had been due to end their mission in March.

The leak in December was reportedly caused by a tiny micrometeorite space rock that punctured an external radiator.

A similar impact is believed to have caused a leak on the cooling system of the Progress MS-21 cargo ship earlier this month.

The new empty Soyuz MS-23 capsule blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Friday. Roscosmos State Space Corporation/AP

The damaged Soyuz will return to Earth with no one aboard by the end of March, so engineers can examine it.

The three men launched in this Soyuz in September on what should have been a six-month mission.

They will now stay in space for a full year until a new capsule is ready for their crew replacements in September.

Tass said 430kg of cargo was sent aboard the replacement craft, including medical equipment, scientific instruments, water, food and cleaning supplies — three times the amount normally dispatched for such missions, according to a Russian space official.

The damaged supply ship was filled with rubbish and cut loose at the weekend, burning up in the atmosphere.