An unmanned Russian supply vessel docked successfully at the International Space Station (ISS). This comes two days after a technical problem forced a similar maneuver to be aborted.

Officials say that they solved radio signal issues that forced them to abandon the docking of the Progress M-06M cargo ship that was launched on June 30. The vessel was carrying 2.6 tonnes of fuel, food and water for the six Russian and American crewmembers on the station.

An attempt to dock was aborted due to radio link problems with the ISS 25 minutes before the planned rendezvous. The successful docking was performed automatically with supervision from experts in Moscow and the ISS team without the use of a radio link.

The supply vessel was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is the 40th Russian cargo vessel to dock at the station.

NASA, the US space agency, says that in comparison to the first rendezvous attempt, the second try "was executed flawlessly."

The failed attempt to dock is notable due to the fact that the space program usually achieves pinpoint accuracy. The docking attempt, which saw the vessel fly past the ISS, was a rare mishap. In addition, a similar problem arose with the automatic docking system during the last Progress supply ship docking in May. However, the process was eventually carried out manually.

The ISS is located 220 miles above the Earth. It is a platform for experiments. It helps test for the effects of long-term space travel on humans. The rendezvous occurred 220 miles above Earth.