Russia launched an unmanned spaceship on Friday to deliver food, water and fuel to two astronauts living on the international space station, Interfax news agency reported.
The Progress M-53 blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which Russia rents from its ex-Soviet neighbour. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and U.S. astronaut John Phillips have been stationed in orbit for the past two months and are relying on the Russian craft to bring them supplies necessary for survival as well as letters from home.
For more than two years, Russia has been the sole launcher of spaceships to the station. The work was previously shared with the United States but it grounded its shuttle fleet after the Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts.
The shuttle is due to resume flights next month, a return Russia welcomes after struggling with the financial strain of servicing the station for the past two years.
The Progress ship is scheduled to dock with the station in two days.
