Discussion: Cargo Ship Blasts Off

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: An unmanned cargo ship blasted off from Kazakhstan today, en route to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Progress 15 lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 0503 UTC (1:03 am EDT), and safely reached orbit 10 minutes later. It's carrying propellant, air, water, spare parts, life support components and equipment hardware. One special delivery is a set of new pumps for the US spacesuits on board the station that experienced cooling problems earlier this year. The crew used Russian-built spacesuits to make their latest spacewalks.

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[-ytruyt-]

good to hear them helping out for the ISS

[om@umr.edu]

Russia obviously has a great rocket system to transport "almost three tons of food, fuel, oxygen, water and supplies" to the International Space Station.

It is great to see international cooperation in this effort.

With kind regards,

Oliver
http://www.umr.edu/~om

[clj]

You shouldn't call this spacecraft Progress 15. It is the Progress M-50 spacecraft
flying the ISS 15P supply mission. Some people use ISS Progress 15 as a designation,
but using Progress 15 is wrong because there was already a Progress 15, launched
in September 1982.