WORLD : Soviets Loft U.S. Experiment

MOSCOW — A Soviet rocket blasted off today carrying the first U.S. scientific experiment to the Mir space station.

Tass press agency said the Progress M-2 cargo rocket lifted off on schedule at 6:31 a.m. and was functioning normally. It is scheduled to dock with the Mir in two days.

Along with food, water and 90 pounds of New Year’s presents for two Soviet cosmonauts on the Mir, the rocket carries an experiment for growing protein crystals in space, developed by Payload Systems of Cambridge, Mass.

Flights of the U.S. space shuttle are too short to grow many kinds of crystals, whereas on Mir, the Soviet orbital platform launched in February, 1986, they have months to develop.