An unmanned
Russian cargo ship launched into orbit Wednesday crammed with fresh supplies
for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The Progress
29 space freighter successfully lifted off atop a Russian-built Soyuz rocket at
4:22 p.m. EDT (2022 GMT) from the central Asian spaceport of Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a two-day trek. The cargo ship is due to dock
at the space station on Friday, where the outpost's three-man crew is eagerly
awaiting its arrival.
"The
Progress 29 spacecraft is carrying to the crew the usual manifest of clothing,
supplies and other cargo, which they are definitely looking forward to," said
NASA spokesperson Josh Byerly of the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The
spacecraft launched on time and reached orbit 10 minutes later, NASA officials told
SPACE.com. It is scheduled to dock at an Earth-facing port on the
station's Russian-built Zarya control module at about 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT)
on Friday.
Progress
29, known by the designation M-64 in Russia, is hauling more than two tons of
supplies to the space station for Expedition 17 commander Sergei Volkov and flight
engineers Oleg Kononenko and Garrett Reisman. Tucked inside the spacecraft's cargo
hold are 770 pounds (350 kg) of propellant for the station's thrusters, more
than 100 pounds (45 kg) of oxygen and air, as well as 925 pounds (420 kg) of
water, NASA officials said.
The
spacecraft is also carrying about 2,850 pounds (1,292 kg) of dry supplies,
which Russia's Federal Space Agency has said includes about 568 pounds (258 kg)
of food, 277 pounds (126 kg) of medicine and 282 pounds (128 kg) of hygiene
items, according to the country's Interfax News Agency.
A contingent
of 90 snails is also making the trip to the space station as part of an
experiment to study the effects of weightless on living organisms, Interfax
reported.
In a
televised interview earlier this week, Volkov said that he and his crew are
looking forward to Progress 29's arrival. He spent some of his time working
with a remote docking system that would allow him to take control of the
Progress freighter should its own automated rendezvous systems fail.
Russia's disposable
Progress cargo ships are similar in appearance to the country's three-segment
Soyuz spacecraft that ferry new astronaut crews to and from the space
station every six months. But unlike the Soyuz, Progress freighters are ultimately
filled with trash or other unneeded items and jettisoned to burn up in the
Earth's atmosphere at the end of their missions.
Volkov and
his crew are also preparing for the early June arrival of NASA's space shuttle
Discovery, which is currently slated to dock June 2 to deliver
a new Japanese laboratory the size of a school bus.
Discovery
and its seven-astronaut crew are slated
to launch toward the station on May 31.
NASA
will provide live coverage of Progress 29's space station arrival on NASA TV
beginning at about 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT). Click here for SPACE.com's space
station mission updates, live coverage and NASA TV feed.
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