MOSCOW, July 23 -- A Russian rocket with the Soyuz TMA- 17M manned spacecraft blasted off Thursday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan to send an international crew of three members on board to the International Space Station (ISS), local media reported.

The spacecraft carrying three members of the Expedition 44/45 mission -- Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren -- is expected to dock with the ISS six hours later.

The launch, initially planned on May 26, was postponed after the failure of the Progress M27-M cargo ship in late April.