Soyuz carrier rocket with Progress MS-18 cargo spaceship blasted off from Baikonur

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a Progress MS-18 cargo spaceship has been launched from the Baikonur spaceport, according to a broadcast on the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos’ website.

The spaceship will separate from the carrier rocket in about nine minutes and will dock to the International Space Station (ISS) at about 04:34 a.m. Moscow time on October 30, TASS reports.

Earlier, the space corporation posted snapshots on its website of the first and second rocket stages. The images featured stickers with Khokhloma ornaments, which originated in the eponymous village, now part of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The rocket also bears symbols in honor of the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod.

The spaceship is to deliver to the ISS 470 kilograms of fuel, 420 liters of drinking water, 40 kilograms of air and oxygen in containers, 1,509 kilograms of equipment and materials, medical control and sanitary tools, clothing items, meals and fresh products.

Head of the Nutrition Department of the ISS Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Alexander Agureev, told TASS that nutrition packages, which include ready-made meal kits for the New Year's table will be delivered on the Progress MS-18 spacecraft.