Progress resupply ship reaches launch pad

Rocket technicians transported a Soyuz booster to the launch pad in Kazakhstan on Monday, two days before liftoff with 2.8 tons of propellant, oxygen, water and dry goods for the International Space Station.

Keeping with tradition dating back to the dawn of the Space Age, the Soyuz rocket left the assembly building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome before sunrise Monday and arrived at the launch pad by mid-morning. A hydraulic erector lifted the launcher vertical before work platforms were raised to enclose the rocket for the last two days of flight preps.

The Soyuz rocket will launch the 54th Russian Progress resupply spacecraft to the space station since cargo deliveries began in 2000.

The Progress M-22M logistics ship is loaded with 1,764 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 2,897 pounds of spare parts, experiment gear and other supplies for the six-man Expedition 38 crew living aboard the complex, according to NASA.

Liftoff is scheduled for 1623:33 GMT (11:23:33 a.m. EST), followed two minutes later by shutdown and separation of the Soyuz rocket's four kerosene-fueled strap-on boosters. The Soyuz rocket's core engine and upper stage will inject the Progress spacecraft into a preliminary orbit nine minutes after launch.

The Progress is programmed to extend its solar arrays to begin charging the craft's batteries moments after deploying from the Soyuz rocket's upper stage. The spacecraft will also open navigation and communications antennas shortly after the launch.

It will take just six hours for the Progress spacecraft to reach the space station. Docking with the Russian section's Pirs module is scheduled for 2225 GMT (5:25 p.m. EST) Wednesday.

Another Progress cargo vehicle undocked from the Pirs module Monday at 1621 GMT (11:21 a.m. EST) to clear the port for the arrival of the fresh spacecraft later this week. The Progress M-20M spaceship was docked to the space station since July.

The departed Progress, packed with trash and excess equipment, will conduct several days of tests to evaluate the thermal effects of space on its attitude control system before de-orbiting over the Pacific Ocean and burning up Feb. 11, according to NASA.

Credit: Roscosmos