Russia launched its 89th cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station on Wednesday (August 14).
The unmanned Progress MS-28 cargo spacecraft launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:20 p.m. EDT (0320 GMT and 8:20 a.m. local Baikonur time on August 15).
The Progress MS-28 (or 89P as NASA calls it) carries nearly three tons of food, scientific equipment and other supplies for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the orbiting lab on Saturday (Aug. 17), autonomously docking with the aft port of the Zvezda service module at 1:56 a.m. EDT (0556 GMT). You can watch the encounter here on Space.com when the time comes.
Related to: Facts about Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency
The Progress MS-26 (87P) cargo ship remained at Zvezda port until Monday evening (August 12), when it left the International Space Station after a six-month stay and headed for a fiery death in Earth’s atmosphere.
That’s the typical end-of-mission scenario for Progress vehicles, as well as Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo vehicles. The third robotic spacecraft currently in service resupplying the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, is reusable, meaning it can safely return to Earth for a parachute landing in the ocean.
The Progress MS-28 (89P) spacecraft is scheduled to join five other spacecraft on the International Space Station when it arrives Saturday morning.
The orbiting laboratory currently has two cargo vehicles, Progress MS-27 (88P) and Cygnus NG-21, and three crewed vehicles: Russia’s Soyuz, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour, and Boeing’s Starliner, which is making its first-ever spaceflight.
The Starliner spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on June 6 for a planned week-long stay, but has remained in orbit while engineers try to resolve issues with its reaction control system.
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