Russia launches vital new space research module into orbit

Related Image Expand / Contract Launch of Russia’s Progress 55 cargo spacecraft launched on Wednesday morning. (Yuri Malenchenko – Ministry of Defense, Russia)

Russia’s space industry launched a vital new research module into orbit on Wednesday at 3:45 a.m. ET, according to RT.

The unmanned cargo ship, which will make regular trips to the International Space Station in the future, is delivered by a Russian rocket.

It is designed to conduct physics experiments with a specific focus on the relationship between how blood flows through a given human and animal body and its function.

Related Image Expand / Contract Discovery, on the International Space Station, is controlled by a crew of six. (NASA)

The space station, which includes the U.S., European, Russian and Japanese astronauts and serves as a way station for numerous research experiments, is currently around 260 miles above Earth. It was built by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration and is under the command of Commander Bill McArthur and a crew of four Japanese space station astronauts.

The crew will spend another month at the orbiting outpost before heading to their permanent homes.

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