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Russia puts ISS resupply spacecraft into orbit

Xinhua, February 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russia on Tuesday sent its cargo spacecraft Progress M-26M into a transitional orbit for the International Space Station (ISS), Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

"The cargo ship has been separated from the carrier rocket Soyuz-U's third stage and entered the orbit nine minutes after blast-off," Roscosmos said in a statement.

The space rocket with the fast-track mission was launched at 2:00 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. With around 750 flights, the Soyuz-U has become the most-flown orbital launch system ever developed.

The Progress cargo ship, carrying 2.3 tons of supplies including fuel, oxygen, scientific equipment, food and various personal belongings, is expected to dock with the Zvezda service module of the ISS at around 16:59 GMT Tuesday.

"Today's launch opens the 2015 ISS program," Roscosmos said. "Three more supply launches, on April 28, August 6 and October 22, are planned until the end of the year."

The agency added that a modernized Progress-MS cargo ship is planned to be used for the first time in October's launch. Endi