Russia successfully launches Progress supply ship to International Space Station

Photo credit: NASA TV

Baikonur: Russia on Friday successfully launched an unpiloted cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS) atop a Soyuz rocket.

The Progress M-27M, carrying more than 6,100 pounds of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition-44 crew, lifted off at 12:55 a.m. EDT (10:55 p.m. local time in Baikonur) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Less than 10 minutes after launch, the resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned, said NASA.

The Russian cargo craft will make 34 orbits of Earth during the next two days before docking to the orbiting laboratory at 3:13 a.m. Sunday, July 5.

An unmanned SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying more than two tons of supplies exploded shortly after lifting off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, June 28.

NASA Television will provide live coverage of Progress’s arrival to the space station’s Pirs Docking Compartment on Sunday, july 5, starting at 2:30 a.m.

The previous Progress launch in April ended in failure after the cargo spacecraft suffered a glitch shortly following its launch from Kazakhstan.