Progress M-11M cargo craft docks at space station

Delivering three tons of supplies and equipment, an unmanned Russian Progress cargo ship glided to a smooth automated docking with the International Space Station Thursday, two days after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Progress M-11M spacecraft, the 43rd launched to the space station since assembly began in 1998, docked at the Zvezda command module's aft port at 12:37 p.m. Thursday as the two spacecraft sailed 245 miles above eastern Kazakhstan.

"Contact and capture confirmed," cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev radioed from a control station inside Zvezda.

"Congratulations on the auto docking," called a Russian flight controller.

The Program M-11M spacecraft is loaded with 2,050 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 2,813 pounds of dry cargo, including food, crew supplies and equipment.