Russia’s space agency aborts launch of 3 astronauts to the International Space Station; all are safe

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Roscosmos space agency has aborted the launch of three astronauts to the International Space Station about 20 seconds before they were scheduled to lift off. Officials say the crew is safe. The Russian Soyuz rocket was to carry NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan. The launch was aborted by an automatic safety system. No cause was immediately given, but NASA says the crew is safe and would be extracted quickly from their Soyuz capsule.