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Soyuz carrier rocket with Progress space freighter blasts off from Baikonur

The docking with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station is scheduled for 9:12 a.m. Moscow time (6:12 a.m. GMT) on Saturday

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket has put into the orbit the Progress MS-26 space freighter, according to a live broadcast by Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos.

The launch took place at 6:25 a.m. Moscow time (3:25 a.m. GMT). It was the first Progress-MS launch and the first launch from Baikonur this year.

The spacecraft separated from the rocket’s upper stage approximately nine minutes after the takeoff.

The docking with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station is scheduled for 9:12 a.m. Moscow time (6:12 a.m. GMT) on Saturday.

The Progress MS-25 resupply ship will deliver 2,518 kg of cargo to the orbital outpost, in particular, 580 kg of refueling propellant, 420 liters of potable water, 40 kg of compressed nitrogen in cylinders and about 1,478 kg of various equipment and materials in the cargo hold, among them food and outfits for the crew and materials for scientific experiments.

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