American, Frenchman and Russian blast off for International Space Station

A Soyuz rocket carrying a veteran American astronaut, a French newcomer and a Russian cosmonaut has blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS).

The crew of Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russia's Oleg Novitskiy and France's Thomas Pesquet lifted off as scheduled from the Russia-leased launch facility in Kazakhstan at 2.20am on Friday (2020 GMT) before orbiting safely eight minutes later.