Long-awaited supplies reach International Space Station

The unmanned Progress M-28M spacecraft, carrying 2.5 metric tons of fuel, oxygen, water, food and other supplies, linked up with the station two days after it launched aboard a Russian rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

“Guys, congratulations, your cargo vehicle has arrived”, Vladimir Solovyov, who’s in charge of the space station’s Russian segment, told the station’s cosmonauts from Russian Mission Control near Moscow just after Sunday’s docking.

The pod will be loaded with food, water, and other consumables that are in shorter supply than usual on the space station.

After successfully separating from the third stage Progress reach its preliminary orbit less than 10 minutes after launch from Baikonur and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned.

It brought 1,940 pounds of propellant, 106 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 3,133 pounds of parts to Russians Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and NASA’s Scott Kelly.

Typically, a Progress launch doesn’t get much attention; it’s a routine method for resupplying the ISS.

NASA and the Russian Space Agency keep at least one Soyuz capsule docked to the station 24/7 to serve as a lifeboat in case of emergency evacuation.

On April 28, a Russian Progress capsule failed to separate properly from the upper-stage of its Soyuz launcher, dooming the mission.

Previous year also marked the loss of the US Cygnus cargo carrier, whose Antares rocket exploded shortly after lift-off in October.

The arrival of the Russian cargo ship and the planned launch of a Japanese HTV freighter in August, should replenish the station’s pantries through the end of the year, NASA said.

The successful launch, rendezvous and docking came after back-to-back resupply failures.

The extra personnel will enable more science research to be performed. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs.

The company recently announced that it will launch this abort test from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida instead of the originally planned location of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.