MOSCOW, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - A Soyuz-U rocket carrying a Progress M-20M space freighter lifted off early on Sunday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Russia’s space agency Roscosmos reported.
“The launch was carried out as scheduled, at 00:45 a.m. Moscow time [20:45 GMT on Saturday],” a Roscosmos spokesman said.
“The docking of the spacecraft with the orbital station is expected at 06.27 a.m. Moscow time [02:27 GMT] on Sunday,” the official said.
Progress M-20M returns to the "short" six-hour flight path to the ISS. Previously, the Progress M-19M cargo spacecraft, launched in April 2013, reached the orbital outpost two days after liftoff.
Before that, three space freighters - Progress M-16M, Progress M-17M and Progress M-18M - also delivered their cargo to the ISS in six hours.
Progress M-20M will bring some 2.4 metric tons of fuel, food, oxygen, scientific and medical equipment to the orbital outpost.
