A cargo craft successfully docked with the International Space Station, the Russian space agency Roskosmos said Thursday.

Meanwhile controllers encountered problems with a separate research satellite when its engines failed to fire, Russian news agencies reported.

The Russian Progress M-24M cargo craft automatically docked with the International Space Station at 0331 GMT with more than 2.3 tonnes of supplies after having lifted off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan six hours previously.

The ISS currently hosts a crew of three Russian cosmonauts, two US astronauts, and one German.

Separately, engineers at Progress were trying to save a research satellite after it failed to respond to commands, which has left it in an improper orbit, Russian news agencies said.

The Foton-M satellite was launched on July 19 on a two-month mission to study the effect of weightlessness on plants and insects.

The mishap is the latest in series of setbacks that has plagued Russia's once-famed space programme.