A Russian cargo ship docked successfully with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday after overcoming a problem that had prevented the craft from hooking up firmly with the orbiting outpost, space officials at the Mission Control is quoted by Xinhua news agency.

The Progress M-58 ship initially docked at the station at 18:28 Moscow time (1428 GMT), but the operation was hindered from being completed because an antenna failed to fold as required during docking, Russian news agencies reported.

After three hours of troubleshooting, the docking operation was completed, space officials said.

“During the second attempt, the metal bar bringing the spacecraft and the ISS together advanced completely and electrical connectors connected successfully,” a Mission Control official was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

The Progress M-58 blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday with more than 2.5 tons of supplies for the ISS crew, including food, water, fuel, equipment and parcels from families of the ISS astronauts.

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