International Space Station crew manually docks cargo ship

An attempt at automatic docking failed because the Progress capsule carrying 2.5 tons of cargo, including mail from the spacemen's families, was not in the right position to the ISS, the ground control centre near Moscow said.

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gidsenko, in the ISS command module Zvezda, guided the cargo ship to the lower docking port of the ISS cargo module Zarya, where it was attached with a 40-minute delay at 03.47 GMT, the news agency Itar-Tass said. The Progress M1 space vehicle was launched two days ago from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The three spacemen, who also include cosmonaut Sergey Krikalyov and U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd, have 12 days to move supplies of technical equipment, fuel, food and water from the cargo ship to the ISS. On December 1 the Progress is to undock from the space station and will burn up in the earth's atmosphere. On December 2, the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour is to arrive on a visit bringing a cargo of sunfoils. The Progress cargo ship for the first time brought personal mail to the ISS crewmen. Gidsenko, Krikalyov and Shepherd had entered the ISS on November 2 with the task of making the biggest research project in human history fit for human habitation.

After the docking manoeuvre, the ISS crewmen first established an airtight connection, then shut off the Progress energy systems. The two ground stations in Russia and the United States recommended an early sleep for them and a largely free weekend. Unloading the cargo ship was due to begin early next week, NASA said.

(dpa)