KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, November 21. /TASS/. A Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle carrying the Progress MS-29 cargo spacecraft has blasted off from Site 31 at the Baikonur spaceport, a TASS correspondent reported from the Mission Control Center outside Moscow.
Progress MS-29 will separate from the third stage of the launch vehicle in about nine minutes.
In 50 hours, the cargo spaceship will approach the International Space Station. Progress MS-29 is expected to dock with the Poisk Module at 5:36 p.m. Moscow time (2:36 p.m. GMT) on Saturday.
Progress MS-29 will deliver 2,487 metric tons of cargo to the orbital outpost, including fuel, drinking water, compressed nitrogen, various equipment, food and clothing.
The equipment will be used for experiments dubbed (growing crystals in an electric vacuum furnace), BTN-Neutron-2 (studying the neutron spectrum), 3D printing (three-dimensional printing from polymers) and more.
Andrey Vedernikov, head of the space food department at the Research Institute of Food Concentrates Industry and Special Food Technology, told TASS earlier that the Progress MS-29 spacecraft would deliver dried venison and horse meat, canned fish, meat and vegetables, horseradish, adjika, mustard, soups, cottage cheese, porridge, coffee, cocoa, and tea drinks, as well as fresh fruit and sweets. According to cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, the spaceship will also bring New Year's gifts to the ISS.