An unmanned resupply ship
took aim on the International Space Station today, successfully launching into
orbit atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The Progress M-65
spacecraft departed the historic launch base in Kazakhstan at 3:50 p.m. EDT
(1950 GMT) and settled into its preliminary orbit after a nine-minute ride
provided by the three-stage booster.
Onboard commands extended
the Progress craft's two power-generating solar arrays that span 35 feet and
unfurled communications and navigation antennas.
A series of precise engine
firings over the next two days will guide the freighter to its automated
docking at 5:01 p.m. EDT (2101 GMT) Friday. It's the 30th such Russian-made
cargo craft sent to the station.
The 24-foot long ship will
link up with the rear-facing port on the Zvezda service module, a spot vacated
by Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle that undocked
Sept. 5. The most recent Progress was
discarded from the Zarya control module's Earth-facing port on Sept. 1 and
then deorbited over the Pacific Ocean on Monday.
Today's launch, known in
the station's assembly matrix as Progress mission 30P, will deliver
two-and-a-half tons of supplies to the station. The "dry" cargo
packed aboard the Progress amounts to 2,866 pounds in the form of spare parts,
life support gear and equipment hardware.
The refueling module
carries 1,918 pounds of propellant for transfer into the Russian segment of the
complex to feed the station's maneuvering thrusters.
And the vessel has 110
pounds of oxygen and air, plus 463 pounds of water to replenish the station's
supplies.
The space station is
occupied by the Expedition 17 crew of commander Sergei Volkov, flight engineer
Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff. Volkov will be standing by
Friday to manually dock the Progress if the automated system experiences a
problem.
Click here
for a Spaceflight Now timeline of the Progress spacecraft's space
station approach.
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