Russia's new space freighter docks with world orbital station

MISSION CONTROL (Moscow Region), November 30 (RIA Novosti) - A cargo spacecraft equipped with a new on-board digital control system has successfully docked with the International Space Station, Mission Control said on Sunday.

The new, digitally-controlled Progress M-01M series was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on November 26.

The spacecraft docked with the ISS in the nominal regime in the manual mode, Mission Control said.

The new space freighter has delivered 2.5 tons of cargo to the orbital station, including food and water supplies for the current crew, as well as fuel and scientific equipment.

Mission Control earlier said the flight of the first cargo spacecraft in the new, digitally-controlled Progress M-01M series would take four days to check the proper operation of all on-board systems.

Mission Control also said it would conduct checks to make sure the digital equipment responds promptly to commands. If there are no performance problems, it will switch to a regular two-day pattern of operation.