Europe launches record cargo for space station

KOUROU, Guyana, - A European rocket blasted off from French Guiana on Wednesday carrying a record 6.6 tonnes of cargo for the International Space Station (ISS) and its orbiting crew.

A space freighter with food, water, oxygen, science experiments and special treats for the astronauts was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou as planned at 6:52:11 pm (21:52:11 GMT).

The robot craft dubbed Albert Einstein is scheduled to separate from the launcher in an hour, somewhere over New Zealand, and enter orbit at an altitude of 260 kilometres (160 miles).

The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will then deploy four energy-generating solar panels and start its autonomous navigation, guided by starlight, to the space station.

It is set to dock with the ISS on July 15 at an altitude of about 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the planet -- at a speed of some 28,000 kilometres (18,000 miles) per hour.

At nearly 20.2 tonnes, the fourth and penultimate cargo delivery of the European Space Agency (ESA) to the ISS is the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by an Ariane rocket