Russian cargo arrives at the International Space Station – Spaceflight Now



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Progress ship MS-10 at Sunday's rendezvous with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now

Two days after taking off from the Kazakhstan steppe, a Russian cargo ship refueling and refueling fueled the International Space Station on Sunday.

The MS-10 Progress spacecraft took off Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at the top of a Soyuz-FG rocket in pursuit of the space station, launching a series of orbital adjustment maneuvers to approach from the research outpost.

The tanker's radar-guided rendezvous is expected to result in an automated docking with the Zvezda service module rear port of the space station at 1428 hours. EAST (1928 GMT) Sunday, delivered some 2,495 kilograms of supplies, experiments and commodities for the orbiting outpost and its crew.

"This is the only act of a 24-hour two-stroke delivery to the International Space Station," said Rob Navias, commentator for Progress's broadcast by NASA TV.

Progress Wharf is the first of two planned supply ship arrivals to the Space Station in less than 15 hours. A commercial utility vehicle Cygnus built and operated by Northrop Grumman was launched Saturday from Wallops Island, Virginia, and is expected to be captured Monday by the station's robotic arm at 5:20 am EST (10 am GMT).

The MS-10 Progress spacecraft manifest published by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, states that the mission carries 1,300 kilograms of dry cargo – food, clothing, supplies, experiments and spare parts. These items will be unloaded manually by the crew of the station.

The Progress also transports tanks containing approximately 725 kilograms of propellant to be transferred into the Zvezda module propulsion system, 420 kilograms of water and 50 kilograms of compressed air and oxygen to replenish the atmosphere at the station.

The launch of Progress Supply Ship MS-10 on Friday was the first flight of the Soyuz rocket family's Soyuz-FG variant since a failed launch caused the urgent landing of a two-man crew after take-off. from Baikonur.

Russian commander Alexey Ovchinin and NASA flight engineer Nick Hague landed safely in Kazakhstan after a malfunction during the separation of one of the first stage boosters of Soyuz.

The successful launch of Soyuz-FG paved the way for the December 3 launch of the crew of the next station led by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Canadian flight engineer David Saint-Jacques and astronaut Anne McClain, of NASA, both recruits.

The trio will start aboard a Soyuz Baikonur plane at an accelerated six-hour rendezvous with the station. He will begin a 17-day transfer of power with six residents aboard the research outpost before the current three-person team returns to Earth on December 20.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.

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