Russian Progress supply ship loaded with nearly 5,800 pounds of supplies and equipment needed aboard International Space Station takes off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, just nine hours after a U.S. cargo ship was destroyed in a launch mishap NASA TV

Nine hours after a spectacular launch failure that destroyed a U.S. supply ship bound for the International Space Station, the Russians successfully launched a Progress cargo craft from snowy Kazakhstan Wednesday carrying 5,793 pounds of rocket fuel, water, air, crew supplies and other equipment needed aboard the lab complex.

The Progress M-25M/57P spacecraft, mounted atop an upgraded Soyuz-2.1a rocket making its first flight, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:09:43 a.m. EDT (1:09 p.m. local time) and quickly climbed away through a cloudless blue sky on an easterly trajectory setting up a six-hour, four-orbit rendezvous with the space station.

The Soyuz booster, taking off from the same pad used by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin at the dawn of the space age, featured a new digital flight computer and followed a slightly different trajectory, according to RussianSpaceWeb.com, enabling the Progress cargo ship to carry about 660 pounds of additional cargo compared to earlier versions of the rocket.

The ascent appeared to go smoothly and roughly nine minutes after liftoff, the Progress was released to fly on its own. A few moments after that, its two solar panels and navigation antennas deployed as planned.

"We have a healthy cargo ship en route to the International Space Station," said NASA launch commentator Rob Navias.

If all goes well, the spacecraft will rendezvous with the International Space Station, gliding to a docking at the Pirs module around 9:09 a.m.

"The crew feels wonderful, and we're ready for the timelined activities," Expedition 41 commander Maxim Suraev radioed flight controllers in Moscow during a morning planning conference. "So, how's that Progress doing?"

"Good morning, everybody, this is Moscow," a flight controller replied. "The Progess is doing splendid. ... All the systems are preforming nominal, the antennas are deployed, and so all we've got to do is wait, because it's coming your way today."

"That's a good thing," Suraev said.

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Russians launch cargo ship to space station