Progress 24 Nears Station, Ready for Docking Tonight

Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

Image above: The ISS Progress 24 cargo craft rolls out to the launch pad. Image credit: NASA.

After launching Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the ISS Progress 24 is approaching the International Space Station. At 10 p.m. EST the new cargo carrier will link up with the station’s Pirs docking compartment.

The Russian resupply ship is loaded with propellant, oxygen, experiment hardware and other gear replenishing supplies for Expedition 14 and the upcoming Expedition 15 mission.

An older cargo craft, the ISS Progress 22, left the station with discarded items Tuesday evening. About three hours later the Progress 22 entered Earth’s atmosphere and safely burned up.

Wednesday’s launch of the new resupply ship honored the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Korolev – Russia’s “Great Designer” of Soviet spacecraft. The spacecraft designer was born on Jan. 12, 1907.

Source: NASA

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