MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) – A Soyuz-U rocket carrying a Progress M-19M cargo spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said.
“The launch was carried out as scheduled,” a Roscosmos spokesman said. “The space freighter separated from the carrier rocket at 2.21 p.m. Moscow time [10:21 GMT].”
“The docking of the Progress M-19M with the International Space Station is set for 4.27 p.m. Moscow time [12.27 GMT] on April 26,” the official said.
The previous three Progress space freighters traveled to the orbital outpost under a “shortened” program, delivering cargo in six hours rather than usual two days.
The Progress M-19M will bring over 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, including payloads for the crew’s work, fuel for the space station, food supplies, water and oxygen for cosmonauts and astronauts.
The space station’s crew currently comprises Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov, Roman Romanenko and Alexander Misurkin, NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy, and also Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Where the Soyuz-U carrier rocket is built