Carries Supplies, Backup Computers

The latest unmanned Russian cargo ship bound for the International Space Station blasted off Thursday, carrying over 2.5 tons of supplies, equipment and gifts ahead of the shuttle Endeavour's planned trip to the orbital outpost next week.

Progress 26 -- an unmanned Soyuz capsule loaded to the gills with supplies -- lifted off at 9:34 pm local time from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin told The Associated Press.

The launch went on without a hitch, and nine minutes later the ship entered the designated preliminary orbit," Lyndin said.

NASA reports the Progress module is scheduled to dock with the ISS Sunday. On the station, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Olog Kotov reconfigured the Kurs automated rendezvous system in the Zvezda Service Module in preparation for the P26 docking.

To clear an airlock for the incoming Progress capsule, on Wednesday the Progress 24 capsule undocked from the station at 10:07 am.

Due to configuration issues with the capsule, NASA adds, Progress 24 did not perform the usual separation burn during the undocking... but was rather allowed to drift about four miles from the station before the deorbit burn commenced. The burn sent the capsule -- loaded with trash -- streaming towards its destruction in the atmosphere.

Progress 26 carries onboard oxygen, food, and water for the station's crew. Also onboard are two spare computers, to serve as backups for systems that failed in June, due to a spike in static electricity while astronauts hooked up power to new solar panels. Unplugging and then re-plugging the power feed rebooted the computers, and things have operated smoothly since.

"The crew isn't going to replace the station's computers, which are functioning normally; those delivered by Progress will serve as a back up," Lyndin said.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/station