The ISS Progress 18 spacecraft docked at 00:42 GMT to the aft port of the Station's Zvezda Service Module. The docking was controlled by Station Commander Sergei Kirkalev using the Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous Unit (TORU). The automated Kurs docking system was not used because a problem with a Russian ground station prevented uplinking a command for Progress to begin the final approach. Krikalev was helped by NASA Science Officer John Phillips in the manual docking operation, which went flawlessly.
The Russian Progress M-53 cargo ship separated from the Soyuz carrier-rocket and started an independent flight to the ISS
"At 03:18, Moscow time, the cargo ship separated successfully from the Soyuz carrier-rocket and continues a controlled flight to the International Space Station" - mission control centre (MCC) official.
Docking of the cargo ship with the ISS in automatic regime is scheduled for Sunday, June 19, at 04:40, Moscow time.
The Russian-made Progress M-53 freighter was successfully launched into space at 2309 GMT Thursday from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
The three-stage Soyuz-U booster propelled the 24-foot long ship on a two-day, pre-scripted course that culminates with an autonomous docking to the station's Zvezda service module's rear port around 0044 GMT Saturday evening, as the two spacecraft soar 225 miles over Beijing, China. The station-bound Progress carries 4,662 pounds of supplies, including 116 Russian items and 75 for NASA packed into the craft's cargo module.
During this month, the Russian space agency will launch three satellites, and supplies for the international space station (ISS).
A Progress M-53 spacecraft will be launched with 2.5 tonnes of supplies on a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on June 17.
A military satellite Monia 3K will be put into orbit, four days later on June 21, by a Molnia-M rocket from the Plessetsk launch site in north-west Russia. On the same day another satellite will be launched on a Volna rocket fired from a nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea in northern Russia.
The telecommunications satellite express-AMS will be put in orbit by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur on June 23.
