Russia sends cargo space vehicle to Int'l Space Station

Russia on Thursday sent a cargo space vehicle Progress MS-02 towards the International Space Station (ISS), said Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.

"Eight minutes and forty-five seconds after blast-off, the Progress MS-02 normally separated from the third stage of the launch vehicle and started the two-day flight to the ISS," Roscosmos said in an online statement.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the cargo spacecraft was successfully launched at 7:24 p.m. Moscow time (1624 GMT) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

The Progress cargo ship, carrying about 2.5 tons of supplies including fuel, oxygen, scientific equipment, parcels for crew and so on, is expected to dock with the Zvezda service module of the ISS in auto mode at 21:01 Moscow time (1801 GMT) Saturday.

A 3D-printed satellite was also carried by the cargo ship to the ISS and will be put in space from the ISS when the crew make a spacewalk.

The Tomsk TPU-120 was assembled at the Tomsk Polytechnic University, the oldest engineering university in the Asian part of Russia, with the aim to test new technology of space materials science.

Once successfully launched, the satellite will be the world's first space vehicle with a 3D-printed housing.

"In the future, the technology can be a breakthrough in the creation of small satellites and make them more massive and accessible," according to a statement from the university. Enditem