Russia’s Progress class space freighter automatically docked with the International Space Station just six hours after blasting off from Earth, a spokesman for the Mission Control said on Thursday.
A Soyuz-U rocket carrying the Progress-M-16M cargo spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan at 11:35 p.m. Moscow time (19:35 GMT).
The spacecraft docked with the ISS on the fourth revolution around Earth and six minutes ahead of the scheduled time that was set at 05:24 a.m. Moscow time (01:24 GMT).
It was for the first time, when Russia docked the space freighter with the ISS in the first six hours after the launch rather than in two days, which was a routine procedure.
Progress-M-16M delivered over 2.5 metric tons of supplies, including food, water and scientific equipment, to a six-man crew onboard the orbital station.