CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An unmanned Progress freighter safely docked with the International Space Station on Tuesday, bringing a fresh load of food, supplies, computer equipment and fuel for the three-member crew living and working aboard the frontier outpost.
Launched Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Soyuz FG booster, the Progress spacecraft spent the past two days flying an approach to the frontier outpost that ended perfectly at 8:24 p.m. EDT (00:24 Wednesday GMT) with the cargo ship latched securely to the rear end of the Zvezda service module.
"There is the capture," Expedition Two commander Yuri Usachev reported to flight controllers as the giant complex soared some 240 miles (386 kilometers) above Russia and in view of ground stations that relayed grainy, black and white television pictures of the station courtesy of a camera onboard the Progress.
"A successful automated docking of the Progress vehicle to the International Space Station," confirmed NASA spokesman Rob Navias. "Right on schedule following a flawless rendezvous."
Although the Russian automated docking system worked as planned on Tuesday, Usachev was ready to take manual control of the flying using a control station inside the Zvezda service module to remotely pilot the Progress on its final approach. Space station Alpha flight engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss were also ready to assist.
Following the successful docking, a series of leak checks were scheduled before the crew would be allowed to open the hatches leading to the Progress, which is scheduled to be unloaded beginning Wednesday.Some 3,100 pounds (1,400 kilograms) of cargo is aboard the spacecraft, including fresh food and a new computer hard drive that will help to fully restore the command and control system inside the station's Destiny science module. A CD-ROM loaded with new software that is required before the next shuttle mission arrives also is inside Progress.
Meanwhile, Voss and Helms worked Monday on the new Canadian robot arm that was installed at the station during shuttle Endeavour's stay at the outpost in April.
Tests of the arm's computer software last week indicated some problems when a backup system was used, but in repeating those tests on Monday the trouble had gone away.
That good news sets the stage for another round of exercises on Thursday in which the Canadarm 2 will practice the maneuvers it must make to attach to the station a new airlock that shuttle Atlantis and a crew of five astronauts are to haul into space in mid-June.
Atlantis remains targeted for liftoff on June 14, but delays in getting the shuttle out to its launch pad is making that launch date increasingly difficult to make.
The shuttle still is inside its orbiter processing facility hangar and is now targeted to move to the Vehicle Assembly Building no earlier than Wednesday. Based on past shuttle schedules, that would mean Atlantis would be rolled out to its launch pad on Memorial Day -- a holiday that shuttle program managers would very much like to avoid working on.
The delay in moving Atlantis is because engineers wanted more time for the shuttle's heat protection tiles to be dried, said Kennedy Space Center spokesman Joel Wells. The tiles were soaked by rain while awaiting its ferry flight home from California following its most recent mission.
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