Article Posted on : - Sep 11, 2008

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia launched its Progress M-65 spacecraft on board a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. The spacecraft was launched to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), according to a Russian space agency spokesperson.

The spokesperson was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying that the rocket will put the Progress M-65 into orbit, after which it will fly toward the ISS on its own. “The launch was scheduled for 23:50 Moscow time (19:50 GMT). The module is scheduled to dock with the ISS on September 13,” the spokesman said.

Last month on August 13, the orbit of the ISS was adjusted to prepare for the docking of the cargo module.

Meanwhile, according to RIA Novosti, the Russian space freighter Progress M-64 re-entered the atmosphere and was 'buried' on Tuesday at a 'spaceship cemetery' in the southern Pacific. The spacecraft undocked from the ISS on September 2, and was turned into an orbital laboratory as part of the Plasma-Progress programme to explore the reflective properties, as well as the size and density, of plasma particles formed in the spaceship's exhaust, the agency noted.

A manned Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS is scheduled to be launched on October 12.