The Russian cargo vessel Progress M-51 carrying urgently needed water, oxygen and food to the International Space Station (ISS) lifted off successfully overnight Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported, quoting Russian space authorities.
A Soyuz rocket took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan bearing the cargo vessel at 2219 GMT, and placed it into orbit nine minutes later, Interfax said.
Progress, carrying more than two tonnes of water, oxygen, food, fuel and scientific materials — as well as Christmas presents for the two-man ISS crew — is expected to arrive at the space station on Sunday.
If the Progress flight had been annulled or aborted, Russian Salijan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao would have required emergency evacuation, because they currently have enough supplies to last only until mid-January.
The space station, which had been supplied by US space shuttles until the February 2003 Columbia disaster, is now supplied only by Russian craft, which have a much smaller cargo capacity.
