Russian Trash Ship Casts Off from Space Station

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By Tariq Malik
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Russian Trash Ship Casts Off from Space Station
A view of the unmanned Russian Progress 26 cargo ship as it arrived at the International Space Station on Aug. 5, 2007. An ISS Expedition 15 crewmember took this photograph. (Image credit: NASA.)

This story was updated at 11:32 a.m. EST.

An unmannedRussian cargo ship packed with trash cast off from the International SpaceStation (ISS) late Friday to make room for fresh delivery due at the orbitallab next week.

Theautomated spacefreighter Progress 26 departed its berth at the station’sRussian-built Pirs docking port at about 10:59 p.m.EST (0359 GMT), freeing up a parking spot for a new ship to dock earlyWednesday.

Tucked alongsidevital supplies on the incoming replacement supply ship will be birthdaypresents for cosmonautYuri Malenchenko, who turned 46 today as he andhis two Expedition 16 crewmates orbited the Earth, Russia’s Federal SpaceAgency said.

Russianflight controllers are slated to use the disposable Progress 26 supply ship fora series of orbital experiments before sending it plummeting toward Earth toburn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Launchedon Aug. 2, Progress 26 is the latest in a long line of unmanned Russiancargo ships to depart the ISS. Similar in appearance to Russia’screwed Soyuz spacecraft, Progress freighters routinely haul new equipment,clothing, water, food, propellant and personal items to astronauts livingaboard the orbital laboratory.

Areplacement supply ship, Progress 27, is due to launch atop a Russian Soyuzrocket at 2:12 a.m. EST (1912 GMT) from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.In addition to Malenchenko’s birthday gifts,the cargo ship will ferry more than 2.5 tons of propellant, food, and othervital supplies to the station’s Expedition16 astronaut crew.

Progress 27is scheduled to dock at the ISS on Wednesday at 3:25 a.m. EST (2025 GMT).

NASAwill provide live coverage of the Progress 27 cargo ship’s ISS dockinglive on NASA TV. Click here forSPACE.com’s ISS mission coverage and live NASA TV feed.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.