Last week was a very busy one for the International Space Station (ISS) as two cargo supply missions successfully arrived at the orbiting space laboratory. After SpaceX reached the space station, a Russian Progress cargo vehicle arrived carrying 2.9 tons of supplies and scientific equipment on Friday.
The Roscosmos Progress MS-05/66P spacecraft was captured by the Russian Pirs module part of the space station at 3:30 a.m. EST. This docking event occurred when the ISS was 250 miles above the South Pacific Ocean on the eastern side of New Zealand.
The Russian Progress cargo vehicle was launched last week Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. The cargo ship carried 1,763 of propellant fuel, 926 pounds of water, and 51 pounds of oxygen. This precious supply cargo also carried 2,900 pounds of food and other supplies for the crew, dry goods, and a Russian space suit.
This is the first successful Progress cargo supply mission for this year since the Russian MS-04/65P supply vehicle got lost in December last year after the Soyuz booster rocket malfunctioned during its ascent to space. Last week Wednesday's cargo supply mission went smoothly after a successful launch, two-day rendezvous, and docking.
This successful mission is a major step for the preparation of the arrival of two new Russian cosmonauts, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fischer. They will be aboard a Soyuz spacecraft that is scheduled to be launched on April 20. Ahead of the Progress cargo vehicle arrival, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived a day before at the space station carrying almost 5,500 pounds of scientific gear and equipment including supplies.
The next scheduled cargo supply mission arriving at the ISS is an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo craft that is slated to be launched on March 19 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It will be followed by another SpaceX Dragon cargo ship on April 9 and a Soyuz MS-02 ferry that will bring back home some of the crew, including cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Andrey Borisenko, and the ISS Expedition 50's commander Shane Kimbrough after a 173-day mission in space.