An unmanned
Russian cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday
to deliver fresh supplies for the orbiting laboratory's astronaut crew.
The Progress
28 freighter launched
into orbit at 8:03 a.m. EST (1303 GMT) atop a Russian-built Soyuz rocket
from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome, beginning a three-day
run toward the ISS.
Tucked
aboard the automated cargo ship are more than 2.5 tons of food, air, water and
other vital supplies for the station and its three-astronaut Expedition 16 crew.
The spacecraft is due to arrive at the station's Russian Pirs docking
compartment on Thursday at 9:38 a.m. EST (1438 GMT), just a few hours before
NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch its own mission to the
ISS.
Russia's disposable Progress spacecraft
are similar in appearance to its astronaut-carrying Soyuz vehicles, but are
outfitted to make periodic deliveries of fresh supplies, equipment and vital
rocket propellant to the space station.
Progress 28
is carrying about 100 pounds (45 kg) of oxygen, 925 pounds (420 kg) of water
and some 2,925 pounds (1,327 kg) of dry supplies like food, clothing and
equipment. About 1,165 pounds (528 kg) of propellant is stored in the
spacecraft's tanks.
The new
supply ship is the first of a series
of visiting spacecraft bound for the ISS over the next few months. Its
predecessor, Progress 27, departed the space station early Monday with a load
of trash and unneeded items for fiery disposal by burning up in the Earth's
atmosphere.
Following Progress
28's arrival on Thursday, NASA
hopes to launch the Atlantis shuttle and its STS-122 crew to the space
station, where astronauts will deliver the European
Space Agency's Columbus laboratory. Atlantis is slated to dock at the ISS
on Saturday.
Progress
28, meanwhile, is scheduled to leave the station on Feb. 15, NASA officials
said. A new European Space Agency cargo ship, the Automated Transfer Vehicle
Jules Verne, will follow with a launch as early as Feb. 22 and dock as early as
March 15, ESA officials have said.
Two more visiting
shuttle missions and a Soyuz spacecraft carrying a new Expedition 17 crew are
also expected to arrive at the station by the end of April.
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