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Resupply ship rockets to the International Space Station BY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: February 28, 2005 A cargo vessel stuffed with much-needed repair kits, food, water and rocket fuel for the International Space Station launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today, beginning a two-day trek to the high-flying laboratory.
The ship achieved its preliminary altitude, unfurled twin power-generating solar arrays and deployed a suite of navigation and communications antennas. A series of orbit raising maneuvers to reach the station begin later today, setting the stage for docking to the Zvezda service module's rear port around 2015 GMT (3:15 p.m. EST) on Wednesday. Loaded with over two tons of supplies, the Progress' cargo includes 2,932 pounds of equipment, experiment hardware and life support system gear, 1,071 pounds of water, 386 pounds of propellent and 242 pounds of oxygen and air. The delivery of 86 food containers will provide more than 160 days of additional provisions, according to NASA. Notable items being ferried to the station are highlighted by spare parts for the space complex's toilet and oxygen-generating and carbon dioxide-scrubbing units. Also, a new heat exchanger device for the cooling of U.S. spacesuits in the Quest airlock module is headed to the station to replace a faulty unit that forced all recent spacewalks to be performed from the Russian-side of the outpost. In preparation for the space shuttle return-to-flight mission in May, the digital cameras and lenses that station residents will use to photograph Discovery's thermal tiles in the search for damage are being brought up, too. Expedition 10 commander Leroy Chiao and flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov are four months into their planned six-month mission. Last week, they packed trash and other unneeded items into the Progress 16P craft before it undocked from the station at 1606 GMT (11:06 a.m. EST) Sunday, freeing up the docking port that the 17P vehicle will use. The discard Progress, which was launched in December, conducted two engine firings to depart the station's neighborhood. Russian flight controllers will execute engineering tests on the freighter before it re-enters the atmosphere and burns up on March 9. |
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