A Russian Progress cargo ship left Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz reinforcement on Sunday afternoon and was carrying 2 and a half tons of supplies and equipment bound for the International Space Station. Under a gloomy, cloudy sky, the launch from 31st place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome arrived at 11:45 pm EST (10:45 local Monday time), when the central stage of the Soyuz 2.1 booster and the tape boosters they were lit with a flaming jet of flames.
Eight minutes and 45 seconds after takeoff, the third stage of the rocket came to a halt and fell, and a few seconds later the solar arrays and antennae of the cargo ship were deployed and locked in place as it was. planned.
Roscomos / NASA
If all goes well, the Progress MS-16 / 77P cargo ship will perform a 33-orbit automatic meeting with the space station, arriving and closing to approach the Russian Pirs module, around 1: Wednesday the 20th.
On board: 5,424 pounds of equipment and supplies, including 3,086 pounds of dry cargo, 1,322 pounds of fuel, 926 pounds of water and 89 pounds of compressed gas.
At the end of this year, Progress will be used to remove the Pirs module from the station, paving the way for the connection of a new Russian laboratory module.