spacetoday.net: Progress launched to ISS

Posted: Sun, Oct 30, 2011, 11:01 AM ET (1501 GMT)
Soyuz launch of Progress M-13M (NASA)

A Soyuz rocket successfully placed a Progress cargo spacecraft into orbit Sunday, two months after a similar launch failed, thus clearing the way for a crewed Soyuz launch next month. The Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:11 am EDT (1011 GMT, 4:11 pm local time) and placed the Progress M-13M spacecraft into orbit nine minutes later. The launch comes a little over two months after a similar Progress spacecraft was lost when the Soyuz's upper stage malfunctioned, causing it to crash to earth in Siberia. That failure put crewed Soyuz launches on hold since those missions use the same upper stage. Russian officials blamed the failure on a fuel line blockage in the upper stage engine. The successful launch clears the way for a crewed Soyuz launch in mid-November, just before the three ISS crewmembers currently there have to leave. The Progress spacecraft, carrying nearly three tons of supplies for the ISS, will dock with the station on Wednesday.