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Russia to launch cargo spacecraft to ISS

Thursday’s launch will be the last one for the Progress M-M series, to be replaced by the Progress MS cargo ships with the next mission due on November 21

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. The Progress M-29M space freighter is scheduled to blast off atop a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4.49 p.m. GMT on Thursday.

The Progress cargo ship will be packed with 2.3 tonnes of cargos, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has told TASS. Thursday’s launch will be the last one for the Progress M-M series, to be replaced by the Progress MS cargo ships with the next mission due on November 21.

The separation of the Progress supply ship from the third stage of its Soyuz launch vehicle will take place on the 529th second of the flight at 4.58 p.m. GMT. The spacecraft will enter the elliptic orbit with the minimum altitude of 193 kilometers and the maximum altitude of 245 kilometers.

The Progress space freighter will dock with the ISS at 10.54 p.m. GMT and is expected to undock on December 9.

The spacecraft will deliver to the space station fuel, air, equipment and also other supplies for the cosmonauts and astronauts, including over 17 kilograms of fruits and vegetables, ketchup, juice, sauce, chocolate sweets, jam and peanuts.

The current crew of the ISS comprises Russia’s Mikhail Kornienko, Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Volkov, US Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren, and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui.