Toolkit for Mir

A PROGRESS M-38 supply rocket blasted off into orbit yesterday carrying a cargo of fresh food, water and a new set of spanners so cosmonauts on Mir can open a hatch and carry out a spacewalk.

The cargo ship will dock with the Mir space station tomorrow morning.

In the cargo hold of the new Progress was a new set of tools to replace the three spanners broken by cosmonauts Nikolai Budarin and Talgat Musabayev who were trying to open a stubborn lock on a hatch leading to outer space for a spacewalk.