A Russian cargo ship docked at the International Space Station after a two-day rendezvous
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| © NASA 111818-71p-2.jpg |
By William Harwood, CBS News
A Russian Progress cargo ship loaded with 2.8 tons of supplies and
equipment caught up with the International Space Station Sunday, gliding
in for an automated docking to wrap up a two-day rendezvous.
Launched Friday
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Progress MS-10/71P
spacecraft docked at the aft port of the Russian Zvezda service module
at 2:28 p.m. EST (GMT-5) as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above
Algeria.
On board: 1,653 pounds of propellant for space station
orbital adjustments, 165 pounds of pure oxygen and air, 970 pounds of
water and 2,866 pounds of spare parts and equipment.
The Progress supply run was the first of two in as many days for the station crew. On Saturday, Northrop Grumman launched a Cygnus supply ship from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, or MARS, on Virginia's eastern shore.
If
all goes well, the automated spacecraft will reach the station around
5:20 a.m. Monday, bringing 2,255 pounds of science gear, 64 pounds of
spacewalk equipment, 2,183 pounds of space station hardware, 253 pounds
of computer gear and 2,605 pounds of crew supplies, including fresh
fruit and ice cream.
With the back-to-back cargo deliveries behind
them, Expedition 57 commander Alexander Gerst, Sergey Prokopyev and
Serena Auñón-Chancellor will prepare the station for the arrival of
three new crew members — Oleg Kononenko, Canadian flight engineer David
Saint-Jacques and NASA astronaut Anne McClain.
They are scheduled for launch from Baikonur aboard the Soyuz MS-11/57S spacecraft on Dec. 3.
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