An unmanned Russian cargo ship bound for the International Space Station (ISS) was successfully launched from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome Friday, following a string of failed resupply missions. Russian television broadcast the launch of the Progress M-28M ship, which departed from the Kazakh steppes in a cloud of white smoke. The vessel, which is transporting nearly three tonnes of food supplies and scientific materials, is expected to arrive at the ISS at 07:13 GMT on Sunday, the Russian Federal Space Agency said.
Friday's launch marks Russia's first ISS resupply mission since the loss of a previous Progress cargo ship, which disintegrated in space on May 8 after it failed to dock with the space station. That failure meant that the next manned flight to the ISS was delayed from late May to July 23.