An unmanned Russian Progress vehicle successfully undocked from the
International Space Station today, heading for a plunge into the Earth's
atmosphere with discarded items from the orbital complex.
The Progress 10 craft, which arrived at the Station in early February,
departed from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 5:48 p.m. CDT
(2248 GMT) after hooks holding the Progress to Zvezda had been commanded to
unlatch. As the Progress undocked, the ISS was flying 240 statute miles over
eastern China. The Progress was filled with items no longer needed on the
Station and trash. The Progress will automatically fire its engines later
this evening to drop out of orbit and will burn up in the atmosphere.
Aboard the ISS, Expedition 7 NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu was asleep at
the time of undocking, but ISS Commander Yuri Malenchenko was allowed by
flight controllers to remain awake to monitor the autonomous operation.
The departure of Progress 10 sets the stage for tomorrow's scheduled launch
of a new Progress resupply ship to the ISS. Progress 12 is due to liftoff
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Thursday at 8:48 p.m. CDT (148
GMT Aug. 29). It will dock to the Zvezda aft port on Saturday night at 10:45
p.m. CDT (345 GMT Aug. 31).
The new Progress will carry a half ton of food, fuel, supplies and water for
Malenchenko and Lu and science gear for European Space Agency astronaut
Pedro Duque of Spain, who is scheduled to launch October 18 from Baikonur on
the Soyuz TMA-3 craft with Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Expedition
8 Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Duque will spend
eight days aboard the ISS conducting science experiments under a commercial
contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Duque will
return to Earth on Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu.
The new Progress is also filled with personal items and hardware for Foale
and Kaleri, who are scheduled to spend almost 200 days aboard the ISS.
Another Progress vehicle currently docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment
will undock from the ISS on September 4 to clear the way for the arrival of
Foale, Kaleri and Duque in the Soyuz TMA-3 on October 20.
Information on the crew's continuing activities on the Space Station, future
launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on Earth is
available at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
Details on Station science operations can be found on an Internet site
administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at:
http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/
The next ISS status report will be issued tomorrow night after the Progress
12 launch, or sooner if events warrant.
