Thursday, October 28, 2010

Progress M-08M, an unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft, departed for the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to resupply the orbital outpost.

The rocket carrying the craft, a Soyuz-U, lifted off at 7:11 pm Moscow time (15:11 GMT). Russian Space Agency officials deemed the launch a success after the Progress successfully achieved orbit and separated from the third stage of the rocket. Docking of the spacecraft with the ISS is expected to occur on Saturday.

The Progress will deliver more than 2.5 metric tons of supplies and essentials to the orbiting American-Russian crew, as well as gifts and letters from the crew members’ families.