MOSCOW. Jan 26 (Interfax-AVN) - A Soyuz-U launch vehicle carrying a Progress-M-14M resupply spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Thursday morning to deliver it to the International Space Station (ISS).
Minutes after the launch, the Progress carrying cargo for the ISS crew was put into a near-earth orbit with the minimum altitude of 193 kilometers and the maximum altitude of 246 kilometers.
"The spacecraft's separation from the launch vehicle's upper stage has been registered," the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) told Interfax.
The spacecraft will spend two days in an autonomous flight, firing its main engine three times to raise its altitude. Its docking with the ISS is planned for 4:06 a.m. Moscow time on January 28.
The spacecraft's launch weight is 7,290 kilos. The Progress is carrying 2,669 kilos of various cargos, including 6 kilos of fire protection equipment, 17 kilos of lighting equipment, 304 kilos of food rations, 88 kilos of scientific and research equipment, 37 kilos of parcels for the crew and flight documents, 240 kilos of water, and 50 kilos of oxygen.
The Expedition 30 crew, which is currently working on board the ISS, includes Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin, Oleg Kononenko, Andre Kuipers, and Don Pettit.