Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have just four months of supplies on hand, following a series of failures to deliver cargo to the orbiting outpost. The latest of these took place on June 28, when a Falcon 9 rocket, developed and managed by SpaceX, exploded just over two minutes into its flight.
A Progress 60 spacecraft, managed by Russia, will launch late on the night of July 2 EDT. This next attempt to bring food, water and experiments to occupants of the ISS will carry three tons of supplies and other cargo to the orbiting outpost. Lift-off will take place at 12:55 a.m. from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kahzakstan. If everything goes according to plan, the vehicle will arrive at the space station at 3:13 a.m. EDT on July 5. Once there, the resupply ship should automatically dock to the Pirs docking compartment of the ISS.
Meanwhile, space travelers are in no danger and are going about their normal business, carrying out a number of tasks and experiments.
"NASA astronaut Scott Kelly participated in the maintenance of science hardware. Kelly disconnected cables from an experiment that observes Earth's magnetic field, he gathered hardware for upcoming research in the Combustion Integrated Rack and restocked the Human Research Facility-2 with new supplies," NASA officials wrote in a report on the latest status of the ISS mission.
Kelly also disconnected wires used in an experiment to measure the magnetic field of the Earth. He also restocked the Human Research Facility-2, which studies the biological changes that take place in the human body during spaceflight. In addition, the 51-year-old space traveler collected supplies for the Combustion Integrated Rack experiments. These future studies will examine how fire behaves in space, which could provide valuable information to keep space travelers safe on future missions.
Two Russian cosmonauts, Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka, are examining the effects of radiation on the human body as well as the cultivation of cells in the micro-gravity conditions in orbit.
Normally, six crew members reside aboard the space station, although only three are there currently. Three more space travelers are due to arrive at the orbiting outpost near the end of July. Any additional failures could jeopardize these plans, and sending the new crew could be delayed.
The recent failure of the SpaceX vehicle was the third in a row for the private space development company. The first two flights successfully delivered goods to the ISS, while the booster rockets, meant to land back on Earth, exploded on touchdown.
"If this one doesn't go, I would wait," Clayton Anderson, a former ISS astronaut, said.
Photo: Bruce Irving | Flickr
