International Space Station Status Report: SS06-020

International Space Station Status Report: SS06-020

New supplies arrived at the International Space Station today as an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft linked up to the Zvezda Service Module. The ISS Progress 21 is filled with 2.5 tons of food, fuel and personal items for the station’s Expedition 13 crew. Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams will open the hatch to the supply ship once leak checks are completed later today. The crew will begin unloading items Thursday.

Automatically guided by its computers, the Progress docked to the aft port of Zvezda at 1:41 p.m. EDT as the spacecraft and the station sailed 219 miles above Greece. The Progress was launched Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The supplies include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew’s families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that arrived at the station’s Pirs Docking Compartment just before Christmas. Progress 20 will remain docked until mid-June. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station’s atmosphere.

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