Cargo vessel docks safely with space station

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An unmanned Russian Progress supply vehicle docked with the orbiting International Space Station (ISS) early on Saturday to deliver a 2.5 ton cargo of fuel, oxygen supplies, food and equipment.

"(There was) a smooth docking by the Progress vehicle," an official at NASA's mission control said in a live video feed on the Web site www.nasa.gov/ntv. "The approach was uneventful."

The supply vehicle was launched from the Russian-operated Baikonur launch-pad in Kazakhstan on January 18.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria are to return to earth this spring after a six-month mission on board the space station. The third crew member, Sunita Williams, will return later.