MOSCOW — A Russian booster rocket on Friday successfully launched an unmanned cargo ship to the International Space Station, whose crew is anxiously awaiting it after the successive failures of two previous supply missions.

A Soyuz-U rocket was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, placing the Progress M-28M cargo ship into a designated orbit, safely en route to the station.

On Sunday, it is set to dock at the station, which is manned by Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko of Russia and NASA’s Scott Kelly.

The ship is carrying 2.4 metric tons of fuel, oxygen, water, food and other supplies for the crew, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.