Russia Space Ship Docks With Station

Russia’s unmanned Progress M-49 space ship docked with the International Space Station Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported.

The unmanned cargo ship was launched Tuesday and delivered 2.5 tons of supplies including food and water for the two-man crew of the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and U.S. astronaut Michael Fink, Interfax said. Both men have been serving on the ISS since April and are expected to stay until October.

Following the destruction of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia on re-entry, killing all seven astronauts on board early in 2003, no U.S. shuttle has flown. Since then, the crews of the ISS have been entirely dependent on relatively low-tech but highly reliable Russian boosters and capsule spaceships for their communications and supplies.