KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, May 24. /TASS/. A Russian Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Progress MS-23 space freighter blasted off from site No. 31 of the Baikonur spaceport towards the International Space Station (ISS), a TASS correspondent reported from Russia’s Flight Control Center on Wednesday.

In about nine minutes, the rocket delivered the resupply ship into orbit. The flight to the orbital outpost will take about three hours and 25 minutes. The docking with Russia’s Poisk mini-research module is scheduled for 7:21 p.m. on May 24.

The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Progress MS-23 space freighter blasted off from the Baikonur space center at 3:56 p.m. Moscow time. This is the second launch of the Progress MS spacecraft this year. The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle was decorated with images devoted to the 300th anniversary of the city of Perm and the 60th anniversary of the flight of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

The Progress MS-23 cargo spacecraft is set to deliver 2,491 kg of cargo to the orbital outpost, including 499 kg of refueling propellant, 630 liters of potable water, 40 kg of compressed nitrogen in cylinders, and also about 1,322 kg of various equipment and materials in the cargo hold, such as medical and hygienic items, clothes, food, a gift for cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin who will celebrate his 40th birthday in July and the Parus (Sail) satellite that the Russian crew will launch during a spacewalk to test the technology of unfurling a solar sail in space.