A new Russian Progress cargo ship launched into orbit on Sunday evening (February 14) to deliver cargo to the seven crew members at the International Space Station.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos launched the Progress MS-16 cargo ship, also called Progress 77, on a Soyuz rocket from site 31 of the Baikonur Food Modroom in Kazakhstan at 23.45 EST (0445 GMT on 15 February, 10:45:06 ) in Baikonur time). It will arrive at the station on Tuesday.
Progress 77 has about 5,424 pounds. (2,460 kg) cargo and supplies for the crew currently on board the station. This includes 1400 kg of research and crew supplies (such as food and clothing), as well as a supply of fresh water, nitrogen gas and propellant for the Zvezda service module’s propulsion system.
Video: Watch the Russian Progress 77 cargo ship blow off
Related: How Russia’s cargo ships work (infographic)
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The Progress MS-16 spacecraft, stuck in the payload of its Soyuz 2.1a launcher, rolled to the launch platform on Friday (February 12) ahead of its planned Sunday launch. This way, ground staff can complete their final flight preparation.
The Soybeans is a 152-foot (46-meter) three-phase launch vehicle. It is expected to move to a northeasterly orbit after launch, and the four reinforcement amplifiers will be examined about two minutes after the lift. The second phase of the rocket (also called the core stage) is powered by one RD-108A engine designed to keep firing for about three more minutes before the reins are transferred to the third phase of the rocket – an RD- 0110 engine.
After the rocket reached a certain height, the hoods fell off to expose the Progress MS-16 spacecraft, which separated for nine minutes in flight from the booster’s upper stage to move to the space station.
After separation, the Progress spacecraft must unfold its solar arrays and navigation antennas. It will then be in line with the space station and prepare for construction with the Russian-built Pirs module on Tuesday (February 16) at 1:20 AM EST (0620 GMT).
The Pirs module is a docking port on the Zvezda service module that also serves as an airlock for station crew members to use while performing Russian guided space walks. Pirs is expected to be removed when the Progress 77 spacecraft completes its mission in July.
In its place, Roscosmos a long-awaited new addition: the Nauka Laboratory. It is the largest addition to the Russian segment of the space station since the Zvezda module was installed in 2000. (There is another similar gate to Pirs, called Poisk, which will remain at the station.)
Related: The International Space Station is now home to the world’s first commercial airlock
The Progress spacecraft is an unmanned cargo aircraft that closely resembles its counterpart, the crew. Soyuz spacecraft, which is used to transport astronauts to and from the space station. The biggest difference is that Progress is used to fly cargo and is also designed to burn up when it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, while Soyuz will land on land again.
Because Progress vehicles are disposable, they are usually loaded with debris and other objects that must be discarded before setting off to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, usually over a remote region of the Pacific Ocean.
Progress 77 is the first of two scheduled cargo deliveries to the space station within a week. On Saturday (February 20), a US-built Cygnus spacecraft will be launched from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on its own two-day trip to the space station.
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