Soyuz rocket boosts Russian cargo craft to space station

Russia launched a Progress resupply mission Tuesday on a six-hour pursuit of the International Space Station with more than 6,000 pounds of fuel, supplies and experiments to support the lab’s six-person crew. A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1100:17 GMT (6:00:17 a.m. EST), or 5 p.m. local time at the Central Asia space base. The three-stage launcher burned a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen as it powered into orbit with the Progress M-26M supply ship. After disappearing into low clouds about 20 seconds after liftoff, the Soyuz rocket shed four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters, jettisoned a protective shroud covering the Progress payload, then released its main core stage. More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 17)