Russian Supply Ship Makes 6-Hour Delivery Trip to Space Station

By Mike Wall
published

European Space Agency astronaut Sam Cristoforetti captured this shot of Russia's Progress 58 cargo vessel approaching the International Space Station on Feb. 17, 2015.
European Space Agency astronaut Sam Cristoforetti captured this shot of Russia's Progress 58 cargo vessel approaching the International Space Station on Feb. 17, 2015. (Image credit: ESA/Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha))

A robotic Russian cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station today (Feb. 17), capping off a busy week of comings and goings at the orbiting lab.

Russia's unmanned Progress 58 spacecraft docked to the Zvezda service module at 11:57 a.m. EST (1657 GMT), delivering 3 tons of food, fuel, experimental hardware and other gear to the six crewmembers aboard the station.

Progress 58 had launched just six hours earlier, blasting off atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT; 5 p.m. local Kazakhstan time).

The Russian cargo ship's arrival comes just three days after Europe's last robotic freighter, the Automated Transfer Vehicle-5 (ATV-5) — named Georges Lemaitre after the 20th-century Belgian priest and astronomer — said farewell to the station.

Russia's Progress 58 cargo spaceship launches atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Feb. 17, 2015. (Image credit: Roscosmos)

Georges Lemaitre left the orbiting lab on Saturday (Feb. 14), freeing up the Zvezda parking spot for Progress 58. Georges Lemaitre then burned up in Earth's atmosphere as planned on Sunday (Feb. 15), bringing an end to the European Space Agency's ATV program, which had flown five resupply missions to the station since 2008.

And SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule departed the station last Tuesday (Feb. 10), wrapping up its cargo mission with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off Baja California. (Dragon is the only cargo ship currently operating that's designed to survive the trip back to Earth.)

California-based SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly 12 cargo missions to the orbiting lab using Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX has now flown five of these missions; all have been successful.

Progress 58 will stay attached to the space station until August, NASA officials said. The cargo vessel will then be loaded up with trash and plunge to a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.