Russia sends Progress MS-24 freighter to intl. space station
Moscow, Aug 23 (EFE).- Russia launched the Progress MS-24 space freighter Wednesday toward the International Space Station with a cargo of fuel, water, food and equipment for its crew.
The spacecraft departed at 04:08am Moscow time (01.08am GMT) on a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe, according to a live broadcast by the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
The agency said Progress would dock with the station on Friday at 06:50am Moscow time (03:50am GMT).
The freighter carries 2,495 kilograms of cargo, including 500 kilograms of fuel for the orbital platform, 420 kilograms of water and 40 kilograms of liquid nitrogen.
It also carries 1,535 kilograms of equipment and tools, as well as various materials for scientific experiments, clothing, food, and hygiene items for the crew.
On the carrier rocket there are allegorical images of the 300th anniversary of the Russian city of Yekaterminburg, capital of the Urals, and the centenary of Vladimir Utkin, Russian creator of ballistic missiles and spacecraft.
The freighter will be received by Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev, Dmitri Petelin and Andrei Fedyaev, who share the station with American astronauts Stephen Bowen, Warren Woodrow and Francisco Rubio and Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi. Its predecessor, the Progress MS-23, was released on May 24.
The Progress MS were created on the basis of the Soviet Soyuz manned spacecraft by the space company Energuia, in order to transport cargo to orbital stations and also serve to correct their orbits.
Since 2018, the Progress MS spacecraft have been flying to the ISS after making two orbits around the Earth, which allows them to dock with the station 3 hours and 40 minutes after launch, unlike the initial plans, which provided for 34 orbits in a voyage of 48 hours.EFE
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