The “Progress” freighter spacecraft successfully blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 2.5 tons of cargo onboard.
The cargo includes food, water, fuel, equipment and packages from the families of the astronauts onboard the ISS. The spacecraft is expected to dock in three days time.
The crew – Russian cosmonauts Roman Romanenko and Maxim Surayev, American astronauts Nicole Stott and Jeffrey Williams, Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne and Canadian Robert Thirsk – will, as usual, receive standard foodstuffs as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.
Psychologists also have sent the crew fresh magazines and a CD with photos of the recent MAKS 2009 air show.