Russian Cargo Ship Launches Toward Space Station

The Russian-buit Progress 22 spacecraft sits poised for launch atop its Soyuz booster at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft launched toward the ISS on June 24, 2006. CREDIT: RSC Energia.

An unmanned cargo ship packed with supplies launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) Saturday, one week before a NASA space shuttle is expected to make the same trip.

The Russian-built Progress 22 supply ship rocketed into space at 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508 GMT) atop a Soyuz booster that lifted off from the Central Asian Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan.

NASA officials said the launch was on time and marked the start of a two-day trek to the ISS for Progress 22.

"The Progress spacecraft detached from the third stage launcher," Valery Lyndin, head of the mission control press center for Russia's Federal Space Agency, told the Russian news agency Interfax. "It was placed in orbit; Its parameters are close to those planned."

Progress 22 is carrying more than 2.5 tons of food, water, equipment and experiments to ISS Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey Williams. The cargo ship is scheduled to dock at the space station's Russian-built Pirs docking compartment at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT) on June 26.

More than 5,090 pounds (2,308 kilograms) of cargo rest in Progress 22's hold. Tucked among those supplies are more than 1,900 pounds (861 kilograms) of propellant, 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of air and oxygen, and almost 250 pounds (113 kilograms) of water. Nearly 2,859 pounds (1,296 kilograms) of new tools, clothing and other dry cargo is also included on the manifest.

NASA spokesperson Rob Navias, aft the agency's Johnson Space Center, told SPACE.com that Vinogradov and Williams will only partially unpack Progress 22 once it arrives at the ISS.

The astronauts will leave the least critical items inside Progress 22 until after NASA's STS-121 space shuttle mission - the second orbiter test flight since the 2003 Columbia accident - is completed.

Set to launch July 1 with shuttle veteran Steven Lindsey in command, NASA's seven-astronaut STS-121 crew will deliver a cargo module full of new supplies, equipment and other supplies to the ISS.

Among the shuttle crew is European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter, who will join the Expedition 13 and upcoming Expedition 14 missions aboard the space station.

Two other Russian spacecraft are already docked at the ISS. Progress 21 arrived on April 23 at the aft end of the station's Zvezda service module, while the Soyuz spacecraft that brought Vinogradov and Williams to the ISS remains parked at a port on the Russian-built Zarya control module. A previous cargo ship - Progress 20 - left the ISS on June 19.

Vinogradov and Williams are in the middle of a six-month mission to the ISS and have lived aboard the orbital lab since April 1.

• STS-121 Launch Dissent Stemmed From Risk to Shuttle, Not Astronauts
• ISS Astronauts Discard Russian Cargo Ship
• Return to Flight: NASA's Road to STS-121
• Complete Coverage: ISS Expedition 13