January 18, 2007. Baikonur cosmodrome.
Progress M-59 transport cargo vehicle was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) at 05:12:13 Moscow time.
The launch is aimed at delivering more than 2.5 tons of various cargo items to the ISS (equipment for Electron system, oxygen, water and food supplies, propellant, consumables, scientific hardware and equipment, required to continue the station manned operation, and support crew living and working conditions).
The vehicle was injected into a reference near-earth orbit with the following parameters: inclination of 51.65°, minimum altitude of 193.3 km, maximum altitude of 246.4 km, revolution of 88.6 min. All vehicle onboard systems operate nominally.
During the launch the Baikonur launch site was attended by representatives of Roscosmos and NASA, managers and specialists of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, allied space industry companies and organizations, a government delegation of the Moscow region and journalists.
Based on the telemetry information and reports made by the ISS Expedition 14 crew: ISS –14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria (NASA), ISS-14 flight engineer Mikhail Turin (S.P.Korolev RSC Energia) and flight specialist Sunita Williams (NASA), all station onboard systems operate as designed. The Station is ready for docking with the cargo vehicle, which is slated on January 20, 2007 at 6:00.
The launch of Progress M-59 transport cargo vehicle is dedicated to the centenary of the birth of Sergey Pavlovich Korolev.
  
 
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