Russian spacecraft lifts off from Baikonur for space station

15:55, 31 October 2012

MOSCOW. October 31. KAZINFORM A Russian Progress class space freighter has reached transitional orbit on its six-hour journey to the International Space Station, after blasting off atop a Soyuz-U rocket, a spokesman for Mission Control outside Moscow said on Wednesday.

The Soyuz-U rocket carrying the Progress-M-17M cargo spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan at 11:41 a.m. Moscow time (07:35 GMT).

"The spacecraft is scheduled to dock automatically with the ISS at 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday," the spokesman said, RIA Novosti reports.

Progress-M-17M is delivering just under 2.4 metric tons of supplies, including fuel components, oxygen, food, water and scientific equipment, to the crew of six aboard the orbital station.