Progress 17 Cargo Ship Launches, Heads to Station

Progress 17 Cargo Ship Launches, Heads to Station

A Russian cargo ship blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhstan at
1:09 p.m. CST (1909 GMT) Monday and is en route to the International Space
Station. The spacecraft, ISS Progress 17, will dock with the aft end of the
Station's Zvezda Service Module at 2:15 p.m. CST (2015 GMT) Wednesday.
The Progress is loaded with 4,631 pounds (2,100 kilograms) of cargo for the
Station, including food, supplies, fuel, oxygen, air and water. The
Progress' cargo also includes cameras and lenses that will be used to
photograph the thermal protection tiles of Space Shuttle Discovery as the
Return to Flight mission approaches the Station in May or June.

Progress 17 will attach to the docking port previously occupied by the ISS
Progress 16 spacecraft. Progress 16 was commanded to undock Sunday to clear
the way for Progress 17. Progress 16, which is filled with trash and other
unneeded Station items will orbit the Earth for 10 day before being
commanded to re-enter the atmosphere to burn up harmlessly over the Pacific
Ocean.

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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info