INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS06-020

April 26, 2006

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-3749

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(281) 483-5111

STATUS REPORT: SS06-020

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS06-020

New supplies arrived at the International Space Station today as an
unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft linked up to the Zvezda Service
Module. The ISS Progress 21 is filled with 2.5 tons of food, fuel and
personal items for the station's Expedition 13 crew.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams will open
the hatch to the supply ship once leak checks are completed later
today. The crew will begin unloading items Thursday.

Automatically guided by its computers, the Progress docked to the aft
port of Zvezda at 1:41 p.m. EDT as the spacecraft and the station
sailed 219 miles above Greece. The Progress was launched Monday from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The supplies include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment
hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew's
families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that
arrived at the station's Pirs Docking Compartment just before
Christmas. Progress 20 will remain docked until mid-June. It will be
used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the
station's atmosphere.

ISS Progress 21 holds 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian
thrusters, 103 pounds of oxygen and air in tanks as a backup supply
for the oxygen generated by the Russian Elektron system and 661
pounds of water to augment the supplies already on board. The
spacecraft's cargo also includes more than 2,300 pounds of spare
parts, experiment hardware and life support components.

The next station status report will be issued on Friday, April 28, or
earlier if events warrant. For more about the crew's activities and
station sighting opportunities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl