The previous Progress launch in April ended in failure, and on Sunday a US supply mission failed too when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket broke apart shortly after liftoff.
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In October, another rocket had to be destroyed when a problem developed after launch.
“It doesn’t get much better than that”, said NASA TV commentator Rob Navias.
Progress 60 is scheduled to remain docked to Pirs for the next four months.
“It just feels like Christmas in July”, a Russian cosmonaut radioed from the ISS, according to a translator.
After successfully separating from the third stage Progress reach its preliminary orbit less than 10 minutes after launch from Baikonur and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned.
A camera from the Progress spacecraft shows the Earth below as it begins its two day trip to the space station. Two sets of replacements were lost when the American rockets blew up.
The new Progress delivered about a month’s worth of food, ensuring station crews can be fed through November.
The Orbital Sciences Antares/Cygnus Orb 3 mission exploded in a massive and frightening fireball on October 28, 2014 which I witnessed from the press site from NASA Wallops in Virginia.
Another Russian rocket, Progress 59, went out of control after launch in April and burned up on re-entry in May.
The accidents, involving three different rockets, had nothing in common ‘other than it’s space, and it’s hard to go fly, ‘ NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier told reporters after the SpaceX failure.
The successful launch, rendezvous and docking came after back-to-back resupply failures.
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A Japanese cargo craft is also due to launch next month to bring further supplies to the space station’s three crew members – Russians Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and American Scott Kelly.
