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| A Russian Progress supply ship approaches
the International Space Station |
A shipment of supplies began its journey to the International Space Station
Monday as the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship was launched from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The new resupply ship lifted off at 9:41 a.m. EDT (7:41 p.m. Baikonur
time). It will be the 23rd Progress to visit the station. Less than 10
minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and
navigational antennas were deployed for the three-day trip to the orbital
outpost.
Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress' main engine are scheduled
Friday to fine-tune the ship's path to the space station. Additional rendezvous
maneuvers are planned over the next three days.
Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, KE5GTK, and flight engineers
Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT and Thomas Reiter. DF4TR, were flying 220 miles
over southern Russia, north of the Mongolian border, when the Progress
was launched.
Carrying almost 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air,
spare parts and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to
automatically dock to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:28
a.m. EDT Thursday. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin Thursday
at 10 a.m. EDT.
The ISS Progress 22 craft that arrived in June remains docked to the
Pirs Docking Compartment. That Progress will be used to stow trash and
supply oxygen to replenish the station's atmosphere when required. The
spacecraft won't be discarded until mid-January.
For more about the crew's activities and station sighting
opportunities, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
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