Space Station Crew Welcomes Fresh Cargo Ship

The Russian cargo ship Progress 24 is backdropped by a blue Earth as it nears the International Space Station for a Jan. 19, 2007 docking. CREDIT: NASA TV.

Three astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) welcomed an unmanned visitor bearing gifts late Friday as a fresh cargo ship eased into a berth outside their orbital laboratory.

The Russian-built Progress 24 spacecraft docked at the ISS on time at 9:59 p.m. EST (0259 Jan. 20 GMT) with perfect precision as the station's Expedition 14 astronaut crew looked on [image].

"We can see Progress in the window, it's just a perfect visual," said Expedition 14 flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin from inside the ISS as the cargo ship arrived [image].

Progress 24 ferried more than 2.5 tons of fresh supplies for Tyurin and his Expedition 14 crewmates: NASA's mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Sunita Williams. The space freighter's arrival ended a two-day trek that began with a Jan. 17 launch just one day after the ISS crew jettisoned the older Progress 22 cargo ship from its Pirs docking compartment perch to make way for the new delivery [image].

Tyurin, who also serves as the Expedition 14 Soyuz commander, stood ready to take remote control of Progress 24 and guide it in manually should it deviate from an automated flight path, but the spacecraft flew true [image]. Docking occurred as the ISS and Progress 24 passed about 220 miles (354 kilometers) above the Atlantic Ocean just off southeast coast of Uruguay.

Unlike the last Progress vehicle to arrive at the ISS -- Progress 23 -- there was no sign of any malfunction with a Progress 24 navigation antenna designed to fold into a stowed position just before docking.

"We aimed all of our optical hardware at the antenna, so we are monitoring," Tyurin said as Progress 24 closed in on its docking port. "The antenna is closed."

Russian flight controllers believe the driving system designed to stow the Progress 23 antenna failed to work properly. An inspection of the still-deployed antenna by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria during a November spacewalk found it wedged against a handrail near the vehicle's berth at the aft end of the space station's Zvezda service module. The Expedition 14 astronauts will stage a spacewalk no earlier than Feb. 22 to cut a wire to free the antenna and lash it into place against the Progress 23 hull, NASA officials said.

But before that spacewalk, the Expedition 14 astronauts have a long night ahead to close out their post-docking duties.

Tucked among the 5,115 pounds (2,320 kilograms) of cargo are 110 pounds (49 kilograms) of oxygen, about 1,720 pounds (780 kilograms) of propellant and 3,285 pounds (1,490 kilograms) of dry supplies such as spare parts, spacewalk hardware and new experiments. Russian space officials have said Progress 24's cargo manifest also included new Japanese experiment hardware to study protein crystallization aboard the ISS.

Hatches between the ISS and Progress 24 are expected to be opened at about 2:00 a.m. EST (0700 GMT) Saturday, with the newly arrived spacecraft's systems to be deactivated about 30 minutes later. The ISS Expedition 14 crew took a nap earlier Friday to be well-rested for Progress 24's arrival, awaking at about 6:00 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) to ready the ISS for its newest visiting spacecraft.

Over the next few days, the space station astronauts will haul the new Progress 24 supplies into the ISS. Lopez-Alegria and Williams will also gear up for three spacewalks within a two-week period -- an ISS first for an expedition crew -- to overhaul the station's cooling system, NASA officials said.

• Russian Cargo Ship En Route to Space Station
• VIDEO: NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams' ISS Music Video
• Complete Coverage: ISS Expedition 14
• All About the International Space Station