Space officials said they managed to avoid the radio signal problems that forced them to abandon last week's docking of the Progress M-06M cargo ship, launched on June 30, is carrying 2.6 tonnes of fuel, food and water for the three Russia and three US astronauts on the station.

"At 20:17 pm Moscow time (16H17 GMT), the 'Progress M-06M' docked at the 'Star' module of the ISS," the Russian Mission Control Centre said in an Internet statement.

An attempted docking on Friday was aborted when a radio link with the ISS was lost about 25 minutes before the planned rendezvous.

Sunday's successful docking was done automatically under the supervision of experts in Moscow and the ISS team, it said, without using the radio link.

Progress launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 30.

It is the 40th Russian cargo vessel to dock at the station, the centre said.

In contrast to the troubles that plagued the first rendezvous attempt, Sunday's second try "was executed flawlessly," the US space agency NASA said on its website.

The space ship's failure to dock last week after flying past the ISS was notable largely because it was rare mishap in a space programme which usually strives for and achieves pinpoint accuracy.

During the mishap "in the beginning everything was normal, then the automatic (docking) mode failed, and later the station's crew could not dock the vessel in manual mode," a Russian space centre spokesman told the Itar-Tass news agency.

The automatic docking system also failed during the last Progress supply ship docking in May although the process was successfully carried out manually.

The ISS, which orbits 350 kilometres (220 miles) above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments, helping test the effects of long-term space travel on humans, a must for any trip to distant Mars.

Progress is carrying 1,918 pounds (862 kilos) of propellant, 110 pounds (50 kilos) of oxygen, 220 pounds (100 kilos) of water and 2,667 pounds (1,210 kilos) of experiment equipment, spare parts and other supplies to the station.

The rendezvous occurred 220 miles (350 kilometers) above Earth as both the ISS and resupply ship flew over the point where the borders of China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia intersect.

Progress is similar in appearance and design elements to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crew members to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. And unlike Soyuz, Progress has a refuelling module and a cargo module.

earlier related report
Russian cargo ship fails to dock with ISS
Moscow (AFP) July 2, 2010 - An unmanned Russian Progress cargo ship on Friday failed to dock as planned with the International Space Station (ISS) after flying past the facility in a rare mishap, mission control said.

The Progress M-06M cargo ship, launched on June 30, is carrying 2.6 tonnes of fuel, food and water for the six astronauts on the station. Failure of automatic docking systems is known but a complete docking failure is very rare.

"The docking was scheduled at 20:58 Moscow time (1658 GMT)," a spokeswoman for mission control told AFP.

"The cargo ship passed the station, at a safe distance. It could be said that it missed. Now the vessel is 3.0 kilometres (1.8 miles) from the station. Our specialists are monitoring the situation."

"It is likely that there will be no further attempts to dock the vessel today," the spokeswoman added.

The ITAR-TASS news agency said that initially the ISS crew had tried to dock the cargo ship automatically but then there was a technical problem and they were not able to carry out the manoeuvre manually.

The Interfax news agency said that the ISS commander, Alexander Skvortsov had told mission control that the cargo vessel was seen in a state of "uncontrollable spinning".

However Russia's space agency Roskosmos insisted that the craft was now under control and a new attempt at docking would be made on Sunday.

US space agency NASA confirmed the incident, saying on its website docking "has been delayed due to a loss of telemetry" and that the resupply craft "flew past the ISS".

Lynnette Madison, spokeswoman for the Johnson Space Centre, NASA's centre for human space flight, said the incident was unusual but there was no danger for the six astronauts on board the ISS.

"This is something unusual. I have not seen this happen before, but we are not concerned about the people onboard the space station," she told AFP in the United States.

"There are no concerns, there are plenty of supplies aboard the station. Whenever the Russians decide to make another attempt, I am sure everything will be fine and they will attempt to dock."

A spokesman for mission control outside Moscow told the official RIA Novosti news agency that the mishap was not an emergency situation.

"Information has come via telemetry that there is no emergency situation on the cargo ship."

A commission will be formed to investigate the causes of the incident within the "shortest possible time", Russian space officials told Interfax.

The automatic docking system also failed during the last Progress supply ship docking in May although the process was successfully carried out manually.

Interfax quoted a mission control official as telling the crew: "At this point, please have your dinner. Docking has been cancelled. Nor is any work being done on the Progress. But please stay in contact."

The incident is an irritation for the Russian space programme, which is used the proudly touting how its manoeuvres have proceeded without a slip.

Russian spacecraft will bear the burden of all manned spaceflight to the ISS when the US shuttle programme is scrapped after its two final flights expected this year or early 2011.

The ISS, which orbits 350 kilometres (220 miles) above Earth, is a sophisticated platform for scientific experiments, helping test the effects of long-term space travel on humans, a must for any trip to distant Mars.

Including Skvortsov, there are currently six astronauts aboard the station. The others are Americans Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Doug Wheelock and Shannon Walker and Russians Mikhail Kornienko and Fyodor Yurchikhin.

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