CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A fresh load of supplies packed inside a Russian Progress freighter is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS).
The unmanned Progress spacecraft filled with some 5,300 pounds (2,404 kilograms) of food, equipment and fuel was launched into orbit Sunday atop a Russian government Soyuz U rocket.
Liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was right on time at 6:34 a.m. EDT (1034 GMT), according to Russian news reports.
It will take three days for the Progress spacecraft to reach the orbiting outpost, where the Expedition Seven crew of commander Yuri Malenchenko and science officer Ed Lu will be waiting.
The automatic docking of the Progress to the station's Pirs airlock module is targeted for 7:17 a.m. EDT (1117 GMT) June 11.
The Progress deliveries have become more important in the wake of the Feb. 1 Columbia tragedy, which has temporarily grounded NASA's shuttle fleet.
Russian spacecraft such as the Progress and the piloted Soyuz are the only way to get new material delivered to the station, although a European solution known as the Automatic Transfer Vehicle is set to debut late in 2004.
For Malenchenko and Lu the arrival of this Progress will mark their first "guest" to the outpost since they said farewell to the Expedition Six crew in early May.The pair are scheduled to remain on duty until late October or early November, when the as-yet-unnamed Expedition Eight crew is to be launched in a Soyuz capsule to relieve the Expedition Seven team.
Meanwhile, back at the Kennedy Space Center two major pieces of ISS hardware have arrived on Florida's Space Coast and will soon undergo final pre-launch checks and processing for eventual launch on two shuttle flights.
They are NASA's Node 2 and the pressurized module that is part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM).
Node 2 was built for NASA by the European Space Agency in Italy and is essentially the same in form and function to the Unity node already in orbit at the station. Node 2 will eventually be placed at the end of the Destiny science module and provide the additional docking ports needed to add the remaining pressurized modules planned for the ISS.
It arrived at KSC's shuttle landing facility inside an Airbus Beluga cargo jet.
The Japanese module -- named Kibo, Japanese for hope -- is the first major component of the entire JEM. Other parts to be added later include a platform for exposing experiments to the space environment, a robotic manipulator system and two logistics modules.
Kibo arrived via ocean-going container ship.
"Delivery of these components, built in Europe and Japan, to KSC for integrated testing prior to flight is yet another indication of the significant global cooperation and proactive planning required for successful operation of the International Space Station program," said NASA's station program manager Bill Gerstenmaier.
Ceremonies officially welcoming the hardware and its associated launch support teams are planned for June 18 at KSC.
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