Mon, Jun 26, 2006
Report #31, 11 a.m. CDT, Saturday, June 24, 2006
A shipment of supplies began its
journey to the International Space Station Saturday as the ISS
Progress 22 cargo ship was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan.
The new resupply ship, the 22nd Progress to visit the station,
lifted off at 10:08 a.m. CDT (9:08 p.m. Baikonur time). Less than
10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar
arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for the two-day trip
to the orbital outpost.
Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress’ main engine
are scheduled Saturday to fine-tune the ship’s path to the
space station. Additional rendezvous maneuvers are planned Sunday
and Monday.
When the Progress launched, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel
Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams were flying 220 miles
over the Earth off the west coast of Chile. Saturday was their
106th day in space and their 104th day on the station.
Carrying 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts
and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock
to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 11:27 a.m. CDT Monday.
The ISS Progress 20 supply ship that arrived at the station just
before Christmas was undocked and deorbited last Monday and burned
up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The ISS Progress 21 craft,
which arrived in April, remains docked to the aft port of the
Zvezda Service Module. That Progress will be used to stow trash and
supply oxygen to replenish the station's atmosphere when required.
The spacecraft won’t be discarded until mid-September.
Live coverage of the docking of ISS Progress 22 to the space
station begins at 11:30 a.m. CDT Monday on NASA Television.
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