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Space station resupply ship launched successfully BY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: May 25, 2004 A Russian-built cargo freighter loaded with supplies, food, equipment and fuel for the orbiting International Space Station was successfully launched today from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Central Asia. Mounted atop an unmanned Soyuz rocket, the Progress vessel roared away from its launch pad at 1234 GMT (8:34 a.m. EDT). Nine minutes later the cargo craft settled into orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas.
A fully automated docking to the aft port of the space station's Russian Zvezda service module planned for Thursday at 1355 GMT (9:55 a.m. EDT). That docking port was vacated early Monday when the Progress 13P (M1-11 or No. 260) departed the station around 0920 GMT (5:20 a.m. EDT) will a load of trash and unneeded equipment. Russian ground controllers are using the discarded Progress to perform a series of engineering tests on the motion control system and methods to conserve propellant that could benefit future missions, officials said. The freighter is scheduled to fire its braking engines and plunge into the atmosphere where it will burn up harmlessly on June 3.
"The International Space Station has a great debt to the Russian side for maintaining the station during these troubled times. The Russian side has been able to bring up enough of everything. In fact, we have enough food, enough water to last us a while," the station's current flight engineer, Michael Fincke, said Monday. Fincke and his commander, Gennady Padalka, are one month into their planned half-year voyage aboard the station as the Expedition 9 crew. The two men heard the old Progress depart Monday but were unable to see it drifting away. "We looked out the windows and just because of the orbital orientation we just didn't have a view that way. We both looked and looked, and we really couldn't see it leave. But we certainly heard it when the mechanical hooks that were keeping it docked to the station, when they opened up, Gennady definitely heard the hook motors...After that, it just pushed slowly off into space," Fincke said. "Progress was a good ship for us. It brought up a lot of supplies when Expedition 8 was here, including supplies for our expedition. It also took away a lot of trash and used things that we had onboard to make room for the next Progress." The following timeline shows the key events scheduled from launch until docking for the newest Progress freighter. Tuesday events
Wednesday events
Thursday events
Data source: NASA. |
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Expedition 20 The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 20 crew is now available from our stores.Current Shuttle Mission Patch The official embroidered patch for shuttle Atlantis' flight to deliver critical spare equipment to the space station.![]() Ares Patch The Ares Project will develop two new rockets to launch astronauts back to the Moon under NASA's Vision for Exploration. The Ares 1 will employ a single space shuttle solid rocket booster to loft the Orion crew capsule. The gigantic Ares 5 will haul the equipment and cargo needed for such lunar voyages. This is the Ares emblem.One Giant Leap
Hosted by Corbin Bernsen, this award winning documentary marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. space agency and features exclusive interviews with veteran astronauts.Expedition 21 The official embroidered patch for the International Space Station Expedition 21 crew is now available from our stores.Apollo patches The Apollo Patch Collection: Includes all 12 Apollo mission patches plus the Apollo Program Patch. Save over 20% off the Individual price. U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Soviet Space For the first time ever available in the West. Rocket & Space Corporation Energia: a complete pictorial history of the Soviet/Russian Space Program from 1946 to the present day all in full color. Available from our store.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Viking patch This embroidered mission patch celebrates NASA's Viking Project which reached the Red Planet in 1976.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Apollo 7 DVD For 11 days the crew of Apollo 7 fought colds while they put the Apollo spacecraft through a workout, establishing confidence in the machine what would lead directly to the bold decision to send Apollo 8 to the moon just 2 months later.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Gemini 12 Gemini 12: The NASA Mission Reports covers the voyage of James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin that capped the Gemini program's efforts to prove the technologies and techniques that would be needed for the Apollo Moon landings. Includes CD-ROM.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide |
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