Global General

Russian cargo spacecraft takes off for ISS

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-27 22:04

MOSCOW - A Russian cargo spaceship was launched into space Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, said Russia's Mission Control center.

The launch was this year's second Russian resupply Progress M-10M spacecraft to the International Space Station, which delivers about 2.6 tons of cargo for the ISS.

Besides water, food, fuel and oxygen, the vessel also brought drosophilas and plant seeds to the space for scientific experiments, Russian space officials said.

The cargo ship is scheduled to dock automatically with the ISS on April 29.

Progress-class freighters have been the backbone of the Russian space cargo fleet for decades. In all, Russia plans to send six Progress ships to the ISS in 2011.