MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Progress-M51 spacecraft filled with garbage from the International Space Station has been deorbited and sunk in the Pacific at 4:02 a.m. Moscow time today, said a spokesman of the Mission Control Center.

At 3:16 a.m. the cargo craft, which has exhausted its service life, was given the last and only deceleration boost. The parts of the craft that did not burn in the dense atmosphere layers sunk in the spacecraft cemetery at the 40th longitude in the Pacific a short distance from the Christmas Island. The Russian Mir station ended its life in the area in February 2000, after 15 years of servicing humankind in the orbit.

The next cargo craft, Progress-M53 is to be orbited from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on June 17 and dock with the ISS in the early morning of June 19. It will deliver food supplies, firefighting and medical equipment, fresh underwear and personal hygiene articles, as well as fuel for attitude control thrusters, fresh and technical water, and research equipment.