A RUSSIAN booster rocket launched an unmanned cargo ship on a mission to the International Space Station yesterday, following the failures of two previous supply efforts.

A Soyuz-U rocket blasted off flawlessly from the Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, placing the Progress M-28M ship into a designated orbit, safely en route to the station.

The ship is set to dock at the station, crewed by Russians Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and US astronaut Scott Kelly, on Sunday.

It is carrying 2.4 metric tons of fuel, oxygen, water, food and other supplies.

The previous Progress launch in April ended in failure, and last Sunday a US supply mission also failed when private company SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket broke apart shortly after lift-off.

SpaceX was founded by former PayPal co-owner and Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk.