Two
astronauts aboard the International
Space Station (ISS) welcomed the Monday arrival of a Russian cargo ship packed
with fresh food, equipment and other supplies for their orbital laboratory.
ISS Expedition
13 commander Pavel
Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey
Williams watched as the unmanned supply ship Progress 22 docked at space
station a full six minutes earlier than expected after two days of orbital
flight. The cargo ship moored itself to the station's Russian-built Pirs
docking compartment at 12:25 p.m. EDT (1625 GMT), NASA officials said.
"It
approached beautifully," Vinogradov told Russian ISS flight controllers after
the successful docking, which occurred as the station passed over Northern
Africa. "Everything is fine, working hard."
Progress 22
delivered more than 2.5 tons of supplies for the Expedition 13 astronauts and
their Expedition
14 successors, who are expected to arrive in mid-September.
Tucked
inside the unmanned spacecraft's cargo hold are nearly 2,859 pounds (1,296
kilograms) of food, tools, new equipment and other dry cargo. About 250 pounds
(113 kilograms) of water, 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of air and oxygen, and 1,900
pounds (861 kilograms) of ISS propellant are also packed aboard Progress 22,
NASA said.
Vinogradov
and Williams are expected to only partially empty Progress 22 this week,
leaving its least critical cargo stowed as the two station astronauts prepare
to receive their first human visitors - the seven astronauts of NASA's STS-121
mission - slated to launch toward the ISS in five days.
NASA's
STS-121 crew, commanded by shuttle veteran Steven Lindsey, is scheduled to
arrive at the ISS aboard the Discovery orbiter on July 3 with their own cargo
pod full of new tools and equipment for the ISS. The shuttle will also ferry
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas
Reiter to the ISS, where he will join the Expedition 13 crew as its third member.
ISS crews
have been limited
to two astronauts since the 2003 Columbia accident.
With
Progress 22's successful docking, three Russian spacecraft are now moored to
the ISS. An earlier cargo ship Progress
21, which arrived
in April, sits at the aft end of the space station's Zvezda service module,
while the Soyuz spacecraft that ferried
the Expedition 13 crew to the ISS is berthed at a port on the laboratory's
Zarya control module.
Meanwhile, the
space station's U.S. docking port remains free for the shuttle Discovery's
arrival next week.
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