Article Posted on : - Oct 15, 2009

Russia had launched Progress M-67 cargo spaceship on July 24, 2009.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia’s Progress M-03M cargo spaceship blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 5:14 Moscow time on Thursday and is heading to the International Space Station.

“The launch took place without trouble. The freighter is to dock with the ISS in an automatic mode at 05:41 Moscow time Sunday,” a Mission Control official said.

The space freighter, the third of Russia's new generation of digitally controlled Progress craft, will supply over 2.5 metric tons of cargo, including food and water supplies, fuel and scientific equipment, to the six-person ISS crew, Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

The Progress-series freighters have been the backbone of Russian space cargo fleet for decades.

The freighter is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight, but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside. In addition to its main mission as cargo spacecraft, it is also used to adjust the ISS orbit and conduct scientific experiments.

On September 27, Progress M-67 – the last analog space freighter in the series – tool “burial” in the southern Pacific after delivering 2.5 tons of supplies at the ISS.

The two previous digital Progress freighters, M-01M and M-02M, successfully carried out their supply missions to the orbiting space station.