The
two-astronaut crew of the International
Space Station (ISS) discarded a trash-filled Russian cargo ship Monday to
make way for a new supply craft arriving later this month.
ISS
Expedition 13 commander Pavel
Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey
Williams jettisoned the unmanned Progress 20 spacecraft from its berth at
the space station's Russian-built Pirs docking compartment at 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508
GMT). The spacecraft delivered about 2.5 tons of fresh food, clothing, tools
and other vital equipment to the station in late December
2005.
After
departing the ISS with a load of trash and unneeded items, Progress 20 was
programmed to destroy itself by burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, which the
spacecraft should have encountered at about 1:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT), NASA
officials said.
With
Progress 20's departure, the station's Pirs docking port is now free for a new
Russian spacecraft - Progress 22 - scheduled to launch toward the ISS from Baikonur
Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on June 24. The new cargo ship will dock at the ISS at
12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT) on June 26, NASA said.
Two other
Russian spacecraft are currently docked at the ISS. The unmanned cargo ship Progress
21 sits at the aft end of the station's Zvezda module, while the Soyuz vehicle
that ferried
the Expedition 13 crew to the ISS in late March-early April is berthed at a port
on the Zarya control module.
Awaiting
Discovery
In addition
to preparing themselves for Progress 22's arrival, Vinogradov and Williams are
also readying the ISS for the space shuttle Discovery and its STS-121 crew. The
shuttle - NASA's second orbiter to fly since the 2003 Columbia accident - is
scheduled to launch
toward the ISS on July 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"I'm ready,
I hope it's July 1," Williams told ISS flight controllers this weekend when
NASA set the STS-121 launch date. "We'll be watching."
Commanded
by veteran shuttle astronaut Steven Lindsey, the STS-121 crew is
expected to dock at the ISS on July 3 during a 12-day mission to the orbital
laboratory. The test flight will not only check shuttle repair and inspection
techniques, but also deliver vital supplies and one new crewmember to the
space station.
German
astronaut Thomas Reiter, of the European Space Agency (ESA), will ride to the
ISS aboard Discovery and join the Expedition 13 crew for the remainder of their
six-month mission, NASA said. Reiter will stay aboard the ISS and join the Expedition
14 crew until his replacement, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, arrives in
December during the planned STS-116 shuttle mission, the space agency said.
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