At 1200 GMT, ​a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-33 ⁠cargo spacecraft lifted off and was placed ​into orbit, Russia’s space agency said. The spacecraft ​is expected to dock with the International Space Station on March 24.

The launch pad had been out of ​commission since it was badly damaged in November ​when a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts ‌and ⁠one NASA astronaut on board blasted off. No one was hurt, and the crew safely reached the space station, but the incident deprived ​Russia of ​its sole ⁠means of sending crew or cargo back to the ISS for ​months.

While Russia has other cosmodromes on ​its ⁠own territory and Baikonur has other launch sites, the damaged launch pad was the only ⁠one ​able to handle the Soyuz ​rocket that carries crew capsules and Progress cargo vehicles to ​the ISS.