Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off for International Space Station

The mission took off from the Baikonur launch facility (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station has blasted off, two days after its launch was aborted at the last minute.

The spacecraft carrying Nasa astronaut Tracy Dyson, Russian Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus launched with no apparent problems from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan.