Ship on course for space station

A RUSSIAN cargo ship was launched successfully to the International Space Station yesterday, clearing the way for the next manned mission and easing concerns about the station’s future after a previous failed launch.

The unmanned Progress M-13M blasted off at 2:11pm Moscow time from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A Progress launch failure in August had cast doubts about future missions to the station, because the upper stage of the Soyuz booster rocket carrying the cargo ship to orbit is similar to that used to launch astronauts.