Progress Cargo Craft Launches on Quick Station Trip
The Progress 81 cargo craft launches on time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the space station. Credit: NASA TV
The uncrewed Russian Progress 81 is safely in orbit headed for the International Space Station following launch at 5:32 a.m. EDT (2:32 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned on its way to meet up with the orbiting laboratory and its Expedition 67 crew members.
After making two orbits of Earth on its journey, Progress will dock to the station’s Zvezda service module at 9:02 a.m. Friday, June 3. Live coverage on NASA TV of rendezvous and docking will begin at 8:15 a.m.
Progress will deliver almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station.
The uncrewed Russian Progress 81 is scheduled to lift off on a Soyuz rocket at 5:32 a.m. EDT (2:32 p.m. Baikonur time) Friday, June 3, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a fast-track, two-orbit journey to the microgravity laboratory.
Crew Relaxes Day Before Three Tons of Station Cargo Arrives
The ISS Progress 79 resupply ship is pictured after undocking from the Zvezda service module and departing the vicinity the International Space Station.
The Expedition 67 crew is taking a well-deserved day off following a busy few weeks of commercial crew and private astronaut missions. Meanwhile, the next cargo craft to resupply the International Space Station stands ready to launch from Kazakhstan on Friday morning.
The seven orbital residents are relaxing today following an intense period that saw three different SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicles come and go, as well as the arrival and departure of Boeing’s Starliner crew ship. Axiom Mission 1 arrived first at the station on April 9, aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour for a two-week stay. Following that, Crew-4 docked to the station inside the Dragon Freedom on April 27. On May 5, Crew-3 ended its six-month mission after undocking aboard the Dragon Endurance. Finally, the station crew welcomed NASA’s and Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 for a five-day mission when it docked on May 20.
Three tons of food, fuel, and supplies are packed inside the Progress 81 cargo craft destined to replenish the station residents on Friday. The Progress is counting down to a liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:32 a.m. on Friday. After just two orbits, the space freighter will approach the Zvezda service module’s rear port for an automated docking at 9:02 a.m. The Progress 79 cargo craft undocked from Zvezda early Wednesday ending its 214-day stay.
Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev will be on duty Friday morning monitoring the space freighter’s arrival. The duo from Roscosmos has been reviewing approach and rendezvous procedures as well as practicing manual docking techniques with Zvezda’s tele-robotically operated rendezvous unit, or TORU. NASA TV begins its live Progress 81 launch coverage at 5:15 a.m. on NASA’s app and website.
Station Preps for Progress and Dragon Cargo Missions
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon (top) and Crew Dragon vehicles are pictured on Sept. 12, 2021, docked to the station’s Harmony module.
There are now four spacecraft parked at the International Space Station today after a Russian cargo craft undocked Wednesday morning. A fifth spaceship will arrive on Friday to replace it and replenish the Expedition 67 crew with food, fuel, and supplies.
The ISS Progress 79 resupply ship undocked from the rear port of the Zvezda service module at 4:03 a.m. EDT today completing a 214-day cargo mission at the station. The trash-filled space freighter reentered Earth’s atmosphere just over three hours later for a fiery, but safe demise over the Pacific Ocean.
A new resupply ship, the ISS Progress 81 (81P), stands at its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting down to a lift off at 5:32 a.m. on Friday. The 81P will dock three-and-a-half hours later to the same Zvezda port vacated by the 79P. The launch and docking activities will be broadcast live on the NASA app and on the NASA website.
Less than a week later, SpaceX will launch its 25th commercial resupply mission to the space station. The Cargo Dragon will launch atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Florida at 10:45 a.m. on June 9. It will arrive the next day at 1:30 p.m. automatically docking to the Harmony module’s forward port previously occupied by Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. NASA TV will broadcast both the Dragon’s liftoff and its arrival at the station.
Meanwhile, the seven station residents orbiting Earth started their shifts today with body mass measurements. The crew mates took turns attaching themselves to a mass measurement device that applies a known force to the individual with the resulting acceleration being used to calculate body mass. The measurements are based on a formula using Newton’s Second Law of Motion (force equals mass times acceleration).
Lab maintenance took precedence today for NASA Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins as they worked throughout Wednesday on life support gear and orbital plumbing components. Lindgren and Hines also had time for blood sample collections as well as tending to the XROOTS space botany experiment.
ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti also worked on the space botany study as she checked and photographed the growing plants. The two-time station visitor from Italy also analyzed changes in her body composition for the NutrISS investigation then checked out a robotics control terminal.
Science Full Speed Ahead as Station Preps for Cargo Mission
The Moon, pictured on May, 21, 2022, the day before going into its Last Quarter phase, is seen from the space station as it orbited 266 miles above the Pacific Ocean.
A muscle study, a robotics test, and space physics hardware were the main research topics aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The Expedition 67 crew will also see a Russian cargo craft depart and a new one launch to replace it this week.
Scientists have been exploring how an astronaut’s muscles adapt to weightlessness in order to ensure crews stay healthy in space and can withstand the return to Earth’s gravity. NASA Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines paired up today marking their foot, leg, shoulder, and back muscles for the Myotones study. The duo then took turns scanning the marked areas using the Myotones device and the Ultrasound device to measure the muscle’s biochemical properties. Results may improve health monitoring during spaceflight and treatments for muscle conditions on Earth.
Hines then joined NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins for orbital plumbing work in the Tranquility module’s bathroom. The pair also had a robotics test on their schedule today for the Behavioral Core Measures investigation looking at how working on the surface of Mars might affect a crew member’s performance.
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti serviced sample cartridges from inside the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) located in the Kibo laboratory module. The ELF can safely measure the thermophysical properties of materials at temperatures of over 2,000 degrees Celsius in microgravity.
Roscosmos Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev trained on a computer today for the automated arrival of the ISS Progress 81 (81P) resupply ship set for 9:03 a.m. EDT on Friday. The 81P is due to blast off three-and-a-half hours earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will replace the trash-filled ISS Progress 79 cargo craft after it undocks from the rear port of the Zvezda service module early Wednesday morning.
Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov deactivated Earth observation gear before conducting a physical evaluation on the advanced resistive device that mimics a workout in Earth’s gravity. The first time space-flyer later studied future planetary piloting and robotic control techniques then explored ways to improve communications between international crews and mission controllers from around the world.
