After a disaster that hit a cargo spaceship launch last August, Russia successfully launched a freighter spacecraft with almost three-tons of supplies crucial for sustaining the manned missions on the International Space Station (ISS).
A Progress M-13M spaceship carrying nearly three tons of cargo for the ISS successfully blasted off from Baikonur at 15.41 IST today, ITAR—TASS reported quoting space officials present at the cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The spacecraft will dock with the space station on Wednesday.
The outcome of the mission will determine the future of manned operations at the ISS, local experts say.
It is the first launch of a Progress series cargo ship since a crash on August 24, first in over three decades of the regular launches.
The probe revealed that the launch vehicle’s third-stage engine shut down prematurely and later it was discovered that the problem was caused by a low fuel feed, and all engines currently in stock were returned to the manufacturer for inspection.
The Progress M-13M spacecraft is packed with 2.9 tons of food, fuel and supplies, including crucial stocks of oxygen and water.
It is also carrying a substantial load of maintenance gear, spare parts and a mini satellite Chibis-M, to study lightning and thunderstorms in the Earth’s atmosphere, Russia’s Federal Roscosmos space agency said.
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