CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Another load of food and supplies is enroute to the International Space Station's three-member flight crew after a routine launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday, according to reports from Moscow.
Packed with 3,000 pounds (1,400 kilograms) of things you need to work and live in space, the Progress freighter was launched atop a Soyuz FG booster from the Kazakh desert at 6:32:40 p.m. EDT (22:32:40 GMT) and arrived in orbit a little less than 10 minutes later.
Repeating a flight plan used many times before, the Progress robot spacecraft is to fly a two-day approach to station Alpha and automatically rendezvous and dock with the frontier outpost at 8:19 p.m. EDT Tuesday (00:19 GMT Wednesday).
Should anything go wrong with the autopilot system, Expedition Two commander Yuri Usachev will be ready to take charge of the flight and use television monitors to guide the spacecraft in for a docking, while his crewmates -- NASA astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms -- assist with the procedure.
Once docked to the station's rear-facing port on the Zvezda service module, the crew will open the hatches and spend several days unpacking the equipment and supplies.
One particular item they will pay attention to very quickly is a new computer hard drive that is meant to replace one that failed inside the U.S. Destiny science laboratory while shuttle Endeavour was docked to the outpost in April.The hard drive already includes nearly a full load of its required software, and once it is installed will help restore all three of the station's command and control computers to full functionality, said NASA Flight Director John Curry.
The Progress also is carrying a CD-ROM disc holding the software the station crew will need to handle the arrival of shuttle Atlantis in June on a mission to deliver the station's new airlock, Curry said.
By sending up the disc now, the station crew will be able to load the necessary software on their portable laptops more easily than having to wait while the programs are uploaded via radio, similar to the way home computer users download files from the Internet -- which can go slow if you don't have a fast connection.
On Thursday the Expedition Two crew will continue to check out the new Canadian robot arm installed during Endeavour's recent visit. Officials say those tests must go well before the station will be ready to install the new airlock that Atlantis will be hauling up to orbit.
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