Astronauts
aboard the International Space Station (ISS) welcomed a new cargo ship packed
with fresh fruit and other supplies Thursday just hours before the planned
launch of NASA's shuttle Atlantis to their orbiting lab.
The unmanned
Progress 28 supply ship docked at the station's Russian-built Pirs docking compartment
at 9:30:13 a. m. EST (1430:13 GMT), successfully delivering more than 2.5 tons
of fresh food, air, water and other vital supplies to the outpost's Expedition
16 crew.
"We have
contact," said Expedition 16 flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko, a Russian
cosmonaut who watched over the incoming space freighter and stood ready to take
remote control should it stray off-course.
But the
Russian-built Progress 28 arrived at its orbital berth without incident,
completing a three-day journey that began with an
early-Monday launch from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan.
Packed
aboard the autonomous cargo tug are about 1,165 pounds (528 kg) of propellant
and some 2,925 pounds (1,327 kg) of dry supplies like food, clothing and
equipment. The spacecraft is also laden with about 100 pounds (45 kg) of oxygen
and 925 pounds (420 kg) of water, NASA officials have said.
Malenchenko,
Expedition
16 commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani are expected to open
the hatches separating the ISS and Progress 28 later today to begin unpacking
the spacecraft.
The station
crew is also preparing for the arrival
of space shuttle Atlantis, which is counting down toward a planned 2:45
p.m. EST (1945 GMT) launch today from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, Fla. The shuttle is slated to dock at the ISS on Saturday.
Commanded
by veteran shuttle flyer Stephen Frick, Atlantis will deliver the European
Space Agency's (ESA) Columbus laboratory
to the ISS in the first of up to five planned construction flights to the station
this year.
The shuttle
is also bringing up ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who will replace Tani as a
member of the Expedition 16 crew. Tani has lived aboard the space station since
late October, though his stay has been extended by two months following Atlantis'
December launch delays.
Tani and
his fellow Atlantis crewmates are slated to return to Earth on Feb. 18 if today's
shuttle launch lifts off as planned.
NASA
will broadcast Atlantis' STS-122 mission to the International Space Station
live on NASA TV. Click here
for SPACE.com's STS-122 mission coverage and NASA TV feed.
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