(Aubrey Gemignani/NASA via AP) A police APC drives prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-11 space ship with U.S. astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonaut Оleg Kononenko‎ and CSA astronaut David Saint Jacques, members of the mission to the International Space Station at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Shamil Zhumatov, Pool) U.S. astronaut Anne McClain, left, Russian cosmonaut Оleg Kononenko‎, centre, and CSA astronaut David Saint Jacques, members of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), report to head or Russian space agency Dmitry Rogozin prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-11 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. The Soyuz carrying Anne McClain of NASA, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, and Oleg Konenenko of Roscosmos launched at 6:31 a.m. EST (5:31 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Stakes were high for Monday's launch, the first to carry a crew since a previous mission to the space station in October was aborted two minutes into the flight after a booster failed to properly separate from the rocket. “The challenge for him will be to pace himself to accomplish the work that’s expected of him.”

The arrival of the three astronauts restores the space station’s crew to six as they join Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, who are scheduled to remain aboard until Dec. 20. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

Saint-Jacques — a doctor who also holds degrees in engineering and astrophysics as well as a commercial pilot's licence — was initially scheduled to head to the ISS later this month, on Dec. 20. McClain, Saint-Jacques and Konenenko will spend more than six months conducting hundreds of science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development, providing the foundation for continuing human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. A Soyuz-FG rocket carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin failed two minutes into its flight on Oct. 11, activating an automatic rescue system that sent their capsule into a steep ride back to Earth. The Soyuz accident in October was the first aborted crew launch for the Russian space program since 1983, when two Soviet cosmonauts safely jettisoned after a launch pad explosion.
Soyuz MS-11 successfully launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Anne McClain, and CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques for Expedition 58 to the International Space Station.