NASA congratulated Russia for its successful launch of the unmanned Progress M-13M spacecraft to the International Space Station on Oct. 30 , which sets the stage for the next manned mission planned for mid-November.

"We congratulate our Russian colleagues on Sunday's successful launch of ISS Progress 45, and the spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station. Pending the outcome of a series of flight readiness meetings in the coming weeks, this successful flight sets the stage for the next Soyuz launch, planned for mid-November," said Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington said in a statement.

The next Soyuz mission will restore the space station crew size to six and continue normal crew rotations, he added.

With retirement of the NASA space shuttle in July, the Russian spacecraft serve as the only link to the station.

The launch of the space craft was the first since a Progress launch failed in August, blamed on an "accidental" manufacturing flaw. The failed launch casted doubts about the future missions to the stations because the upper stage of the Soyuz booster rocket carrying the cargo ship to orbit was similar to that used to launch astronauts.

But the recent launch was successful with the spaceship successfully reaching a designated orbit and will dock at the station on Wednesday.

On November 14 a new crew will be launched to the space outpost, according to Valery Lyndin, Mission Control spokesman.

The unmanned Progress M-13M blasted off as scheduled at 2:11 p.m. Moscow time (1011 GMT; 6:11 a.m. EDT) from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.