The Russian cargo spacecraft Progress 66 which was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Feb. 22 has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) as estimated on Feb. 24. The unmanned spacecraft was launched to send supplies to the ISS.
This launch was Roscosmos' first cargo delivery to the space since the failure of Progress 65 supply ship on Dec. 1, 2016. For the unfamiliar, Roscosmos is the Russian counterpart of NASA and is similar to it in many functions.
Details Of The Arrival
The Progress 66 was sent to deliver supplies weighing 3 tons to the orbiting ISS laboratory. The unmanned space shuttle docked into ISS' Russian built Pirs docking module at 3.30 AM ET or 8:30 AM GMT. The Russian cargo ship is the second one to come to ISS after the SpaceX Dragon capsule delivered around 5,500 lbs of supplies on Feb. 23.
The cargo craft was lifted off into space using a Soyuz rocket at 12.58 AM ET on Feb. 22.The Russian Progress spaceship, along with SpaceX, forms fleet of robot-controlled spacecrafts assigned to transport necessary supplies to the astronauts aboard the ISS.
SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft docked onto the orbiting space station of Feb. 22 after aborting its first docking attempt. The spacecraft failed to link to ISS the first time due to incorrect navigational update.
Russian cargo craft docks to station at 3:30am ET (8:30am GMT) just one day after @SpaceX #Dragon arrived. https://t.co/mjkChPkNhK pic.twitter.com/49vWxe4cBi
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) February 24, 2017
Russian Progress 66 Stay Duration And Supply List
The Russian cargo ship was carrying food, fuel and supplies weighing nearly 3 tons to deliver it to the crew members of Expedition 50. The cargo ship will now remain stationed at ISS for nearly four months. The spacecraft will be leaving the orbiting laboratory in June to start its descent into Earth's atmosphere.
Russian Progress December Launch Crash
Roscosmos' previous Progress mission that took place on Dec. 1 2016 failed miserably with the spacecraft crashing within minutes of its launch.
The crash caused utmost panic in people in southern Siberia when they saw the burning space craft coming down at them from the sky. Investigations into the matter revealed that the third engine of the spacecraft had malfunctioned after its launch, causing the crash to take place.
The latest launch, however, faced no such technical issues and had a smooth take off and reached ISS as scheduled by the scientists.
Photo: European Space Agency | Flickr
