spacecraft traveling to the space station with an international crew

Belarus’s first female cosmonaut, Marina Vasilevskaya, was launched on Saturday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, the Russian Space Agency in Moscow said.

The Soyuz took off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, at 1236 GMT, a statement from Roscosmos said, adding that the spacecraft entered orbit “as planned.”

Initially scheduled to take off on Thursday, the launch was delayed at the last minute, another major setback for Russia’s space program, which has been hit by financial problems, scandals, corruption and failures.

Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said a “voltage dip” occurred in the chemical power source during the final preparations before launch.

But on Saturday, the Soyuz MS-25 mission took off from the Baikonur space port carrying three astronauts – experienced Russian cosmonaut Oleg Nowitsky, American Tracy Dyson and Vasilevskaya, 33, with no apparent problems.

“Everything is fine on board,” Novitsky said in a video broadcast by Roscosmos shortly after liftoff.

The Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the Russian portion of the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday.

Moscow’s once-pioneering space program has suffered numerous setbacks since winning the first round of the space race more than 60 years ago.

The program has suffered since the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the loss last August of its first lunar probe in nearly 50 years.

The Russian portion of the International Space Station also suffered three coolant leaks in less than a year, spraying sheets of frozen coolant into space multiple times in 2023.

Space is one of the last areas of U.S.-Russian cooperation after an almost complete breakdown in relations between Moscow and Washington over the past two years.

But Russia has said it plans to abandon the ISS and build its own space station.

It previously said it would withdraw “after 2024,” but its latest position is that Russia will remain a participant until 2028.

For nearly a decade, Russian Soyuz launches were the only way to transport astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station after NASA halted its space shuttle program.

But the United States has now turned to privately manufactured SpaceX rockets and capsules, ending Russia’s monopoly on manned launches.