A Russian cargo craft has docked successfully at the International Space Station. It delivered vital fuel and food to an outpost and crew cut off from a major supply line following the loss of the shuttle Columbia. The unmanned Progress M-47 cargo ship - which blasted off on top of a Soyuz-U rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday - moored itself to the space station on autopilot.
The Progress is carrying 2.75 tons of fuel, as well as water, food and other supplies for US astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin. The supply mission came as officials from the US, Russia and other partners in the 16-nation space station project discuss how to run the orbiting complex amid the break in supplies.
Nasa had planned to expand the station during five shuttle flights this year, but they have been put on hold pending the investigation into the Columbia disaster.