Russia sends rocket despite disaster

A RUSSIAN cargo rocket carrying food and fuel blasted off for the International Space Station yesterday, a day after the US shuttle Columbia broke, killing seven astronauts.

“The launch has gone ahead as planned. So far, everything is fine,” said a spokesman at ground control just outside Moscow.

Russian experts, speaking at the launch of the Progress rocket at Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe, said the Columbia disaster could prove a serious setback for the ambitious 16-nation ISS programme.