Russia's Progress MS-22 resupply ship inserted into orbit

MOSCOW. Feb 9 (Interfax) - A Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle has inserted the Progress MS-22 resupply ship into orbit, Russia's Roscosmos state corporation said in a stream.

The spaceship separated from the third stage at 9:25 a.m. and headed to the International Space Station (ISS). Its two-day journey will end at 11:47 a.m. on February 11 with docking to the Zvezda module.

The Soyuz-2.1a LV coupled with Progress MS-22 successfully blasted off Launch Pad 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday.

According to Roscosmos, the spaceship will spend about six and a half months in orbit.

Progress MS-22 will deliver 2,534 kilograms of cargo, including 720 kilograms of fuel, 420 liters of drinking water, 40 kilograms of nitrogen and 1,354 kilograms of equipment and materials, including resources for systems of the ISS' Russian segment.

The spaceship is also carrying kits for Russian scientific experiments, including Kardiovektor, Neiroimmunitet, Pilot-T, Matryoshka-R, Biomag-M, Antiseptik, Probiovit, Struktura, Fotobioreaktor, Biodegradatsiya, Biopolimer, and Sepatsiya.

Additionally, it will supply equipment for the Napor-miniRSA experiment and an ASN-KM satellite navigation antenna to be installed on the exterior of Russian modules during spacewalk.

The ISS is currently operated by Expedition 68 comprising Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Francisco Rubio, Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata.