Russian cargo vessel arrives at space station

A Russian cargo vessel docked safely at the International Space Station on Saturday carrying mainly water and fuel, the mission control centre said.

The Progress M-14M spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Thursday and arrived at its destination at 0008 GMT, it said in a statement.

There are six men aboard the orbiting space station; three Russians, two Americans and a Dutchman.

Russia has sole responsibility for taking US and other international astronauts to the ISS following the withdrawal of the US space shuttle in July last year, but its own space programme has been hit by a string of problems.

In 2011, the Russian space industry suffered five failed launches.

Last August, a Soyuz rocket and the Progress supply ship it was carrying crashed minutes after blast off from Baikonour, due to a motor failure, paralysing launches destined for the ISS for three months.

In October investigators said negligence was to blame.

(c) 2012 AFP