Russian resupply ship launches to space station

Washington, February 15

An uncrewed Russian cargo ship carrying just over one ton of nitrogen, water and propellant to the International Space Station launched from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan on Monday.

“Liftoff! The @Roscosmos cargo spacecraft Progress launched at 11:45pm ET (February 14) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, beginning a two-day journey to the @Space_Station,” NASA tweeted after the launch.

The Progress 77 resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned for a two-day rendezvous on its way to meet up with the orbiting laboratory and its Expedition 64 crew members, the US space agency said in a blog post.

After making 33 orbits of Earth on its journey, the spacecraft will automatically dock to the station’s Pirs docking compartment on the Russian segment on Wednesday. IANS