The doomed ship lost contact with Earth and burned up in the atmosphere, forcing a group of astronauts to spend an extra month on the ISS. PHOTO: TWITTER/@astro_aggie
The spacecraft was blasted into orbit with a Proton-M rocket "as planned", the statement said.
"A telemetric communication line was established with the satellite and all equipment on board is functioning normally," it added.
Russia's space industry has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months.
Baikonur Cosmodrome. Soyuz TMA-19M standing on pad with flags representing crew. Proud day for my British friends! pic.twitter.com/AajR8QXSmR
— Mike Fossum (@astro_aggie) December 13, 2015
It put the brakes on all space travel for almost three months after the failure of the unmanned Progress freighter in late April.
The doomed ship lost contact with Earth and burned up in the atmosphere, forcing a group of astronauts to spend an extra month on the ISS.
In May, another Russian spacecraft, a Proton-M rocket carrying a Mexican satellite, malfunctioned and crashed in Siberia soon after its launch.
Earlier this month, Russia lost communication with a newly developed military satellite after it apparently failed to separate from the booster rocket after launch.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ