On February 14, a Russian Soyuz 2.1b launched the Progress MS-19 spacecraft towards the International Space Station (ISS) from site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, marking the 418th launch from that pad since 1961. 

Just under nine minutes after launch, the spacecraft was separated from the Soyuz third stage and began its two-day flight to the ISS. Crewed Soyuz takes the fast track, but supplies can take their time. 

Progress MS-19 is the eightieth Progress spacecraft to visit the ISS and the 172nd overall since the first one visited Salyut 6 in 1978. Progress MS-19 is loaded with 2,523 kilograms of cargo. This includes 1,500 kilograms of supplies and experiments for the Russian segment of the station. 

Some of these experiments include the “biodegradation” experiment, which will investigate the breakdown of microscopic organisms on materials and their effects on the structural stability of the material. Another is “biomodule”, which will investigate producing food and oxygen from the spirulina algae. 

The rest of the cargo is 431 kilograms of propellant for the station’s engines and 421 liters of water for the life support system which, because it is in the rational measurement system, weighs 421 kilograms. Rounding out the supplies is 40 kilograms of nitrogen for the station’s atmosphere.

MS-19 also contains six CubeSats, Radioskaf 10 through 17, designed and built by the Southwestern State University in Russia. These will be deployed from the ISS by hand during a spacewalk.

Progress MS-19 will spend a record 370 days docked to the ISS, providing occasional reboots to the station’s orbit before deorbiting itself over the South Pacific.

More Information

PDF: Progress MS-19 press kit (Roscosmos)

The payload of the ship “Progress MS-19” (Roscosmos)

As part of the Radioskaf space experiment, 10 satellites will be launched (R4UAB)