Posted: Tue, Feb 10, 2009, 6:59 AM ET (1159 GMT)
A Soyuz rocket launched a Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station early Tuesday. The Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 12:49 am EST (0549 GMT) and placed the Progress M-66 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 2:19 am EST (0719 GMT) Friday. The spacecraft, also called Progress 32P by NASA, is carrying two and a half tons of cargo for the station, including a new Russian Orlan-MK spacesuit. The launch came two days after the previous Progress spacecraft, which had undocked from the station last week, deorbited. The launch took place from an alternative launch site at Baikonur, launch pad 31, which was recently refurbished to allow it to carry out Soyuz and Progress launches to the ISS in addition to launch pad 1.
