The two-man crew living
aboard the International Space Station can look forward to receiving fresh
food, more oxygen and new equipment Saturday night when an unpiloted resupply
ship docks to the orbiting complex.
The Russian-made Progress
M-53 freighter was successfully launched into space at 2309 GMT (7:09 p.m. EDT)
Thursday from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
A three-stage Soyuz-U
booster propelled the 24-foot long ship on a two-day, pre-scripted course that
culminates with an autonomous docking to the station's Zvezda service module's
rear port around 0044 GMT (8:44 p.m. EDT) Saturday evening. An on-time docking
would occur as the two craft soar 225 miles over Beijing, China.
The Progess spacecraft,
known in the station's assembly matrix as mission 18P, reached its preliminary
orbit about nine minutes after blastoff and separated from the Soyuz rocket's
spent third stage. Onboard commands unfurled communications and navigation
antennas and deployed two power-generating solar arrays that span 35 feet.
A series of precise engine
firings over the next two days will guide the Progress into the station's orbit
for the linkup. The Zvezda docking port was vacated Wednesday when the Progress
17P mission, filled with garbage and unneeded hardware, pulled away from the
station and re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
The
station-bound Progress carries 4,662 pounds of supplies, including 116 Russian
items and 75 for NASA packed into the craft's cargo module. The "dry"
cargo amounts to 3,097 pounds.
The refueling module is
loaded with 397 pounds of propellant for transfer into the Russian segment of
the station to feed the outpost's maneuvering thrusters. The fuel is pumped
from Progess via connections in the docking port.
Another hefty portion of
the supply vessel's load is 926 pounds of water.
To replenish the station's
oxygen supply, the Progress is bringing 242 pounds of pressurized oxygen and 40
additional solid-fuel oxygen generator cartridges. Ongoing breakdowns of the
Russian Elektron oxygen-producing device on the station has forced the crew to
burn two SFOG "candle" cartridges per day.
Spare parts to assist in
Elektron repair efforts are aboard this Progress.
Expedition 11 commander
Sergei Krikalev and NASA science officer John Phillips are two months into
their planned half-year mission aboard the station.
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