Russian cargo ship on way to the International Space Station

31 Oct 2011

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Moscow: Some immediate concerns about the future of the International Space Station (ISS) has eased with a Russian cargo module now on its way to dock with the orbiting laboratory after  successful launch from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A previous launch of a Russian supply module in August failed, raising concerns about the safety of manned mission to the ISS as rockets carrying crew and the cargo supply modules have similar motors.

The unmanned Progress M-13M blasted off as scheduled at 2:11 p.m. Moscow time from the Baikonur cosmodrome, mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.

''It was a perfect launch,'' Lyndin said, adding the ship had successfully reached a designated orbit and would dock with the orbiting station Wednesday.

A new crew will be launched to the space lab on 14 November, he said.

A Progress launch failure in August led to a probe by Russian space authorities, which cleared the mission just launched.

The ISS has been continuously manned for nearly 11 years and NASA said failure to rectify the problem with the Russian supply ships would have led to temporary abandonment of the orbiting lab as there would be no means available to send a replacement crew.

With the fold-up of NASA's space shuttle programme, Russian spacecraft are the only link to the station.

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