The new cargo is headed for the International Space Station.
Russia sent its robotic Progress 87 cargo ship toward the International Space Station tonight (Feb. 14) ahead of Valentine's Day.
The cargo ship lifted off on a Soyuz rocket at 10:25 pm EST (0325 GMT and 8:25 am local time on Feb. 15) from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Related: Facts about the Russian space agency Roscosmos
Progress 87 carries about 3 tons of food, propellant and other supplies.
If all goes according to plan, the cargo ship will reach the orbiting laboratory Saturday morning (Feb. 17)Docking with the Russian Zvezda service module 1:12 am EST (0612 GMT). You can watch the meeting live on Space.com via NASA; Coverage begins 12:30 am EST (0530 GMT) on Saturday.
Progress is one of three robotic spacecraft currently flying on resupply missions to the ISS, along with Northrop Grumman's Cygnus vehicle and SpaceX's Cargo Dragon capsule.
Progress and Cygnus are expendable spacecraft that burn up in Earth's atmosphere after their time in orbit. But Dragon is designed to be reusable; It splashes down safely into the ocean under parachutes, meaning science samples can be brought back to Earth.
Editor's note: This story was updated on February 14 at 10:45pm EST with news of the successful liftoff.
