Russian Progress 26 cargo ship loads up space station

William Atkins
Monday, 06 August 2007 06:35

Science - Space

The Russian unmanned cargo ship was launched on Thursday, August 2, 2007, from the Russian spaceport Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhstan for its trip to the International Space Station.

The Progress spaceship contained replacement materials for the Expedition 15 crewmembers, along with other necessary supplies. It arrived at the Russian airlock module at 2:40 pm EDT on Sunday, August 5, 2007. The automatic docking procedure was used, with the manual backup controls (manned by the Russian cosmonauts) ready to take over if necessary.

The cargo ship supplied the space station with 2.5 tons of materials including propellant, oxygen, water, food, computer equipment, clothing, reading materials, science equipment, spare parts, and other necessary materials.

Besides the Progress 26 craft, the unmanned Progress 25 cargo ship and the Soyuz TMA-10 manned vehicle, which flew the Soviet Expedition 15 crew to the station, are also docked at the space station.