Article Posted on : - Jun 22, 2011

The Soyuz rocket with the Progress M-11M spacecraft lifts off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. A NASA photo

BAIKONUR (BNS): An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft lifted off from Kazakhstan on Tuesday to the International Space Station on supply mission.

The Progress M-11M cargo vehicle was launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan at 18:38 Moscow time (14:38 GMT).

The Soyuz rocket successfully injected the vehicle into the designated orbit after 88.54 minutes, federal space agency Roscosmos said.

The spaceship is scheduled for an automated docking with the Zvezda service module of the ISS at 16:37 GMT on Thursday.

It will deliver 2.5 tons of cargo, including food, water, fuel, air and other supplies, to the six-member Expedition 28 crew on board the orbital space laboratory.

Meanwhile, the European unmanned spaceship, ATV-2 Johannes Kepler, met a “fiery grave” on Tuesday after completing its four-month long ISS mission. It burnt up safely in Earth’s atmosphere and plunged into the Pacific.

The spacecraft had vacated the Zvezda port on Monday to give way to the Progress vehicle.