Monday, October 19, 2009

Progress 35 Docks to Station

A new Progress cargo resupply vehicle docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment of the International Space Station at 9:40 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 17. The ISS Progress 35 unpiloted spacecraft brings to the orbiting laboratory 1,918 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 1,750 pounds of spare parts and supplies for the Expedition 21 crew.

Progress 35 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 9:14 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14. It replaces the trash-filled Progress 34, which undocked on Sept. 21 and was destroyed on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Sept. 27.

Once the Expedition 21 crew members have unloaded the cargo from the new Progress, the craft will be filled with trash and station discards. It will be undocked from the station in April, and like its predecessors, will be deorbited to burn in the Earth's atmosphere.

The Progress joins two Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the station, which are serving as return vehicles for the six crew members on the orbiting laboratory.

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