A new cargo ship bearing clothes, new equipment and chocolates is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) after a successful morning launch from the steppes of Kazakhstan.
The Progress 15 supply vehicle rocketed away from its launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:03 a.m. EDT (0503 GMT) today. The ISS-bound spacecraft will dock at the space station in the early morning hours of Aug. 14. The ISS was just southwest of Baikonur, some 230 miles (370 kilometers) overhead, during the launch, NASA officials said.
Russian ISS mission controllers said Progress 15's flight will take about 24 hours longer than the typical two days to reach the ISS in an effort to save fuel before docking at the aft port of the station's Zvezda module.
"The Progress will bring the crew DVDs, both feature and documentary films," Olga Kozyrenko, chief of the psychological team at Russia's Institute of Medical and Biological Studies, told the Russian news agency Interfax. The cargo pod also includes linen and work clothes requested by the ISS crew, as well as the traditional box of chocolates that rides up with each Progress flight.
NASA TV will provide live coverage of Progress 15's arrival at the space station, which is scheduled for 1:02 a.m. EDT (0502 GMT) on Saturday, Aug. 14. Live coverage begins an hour earlier at 12:00 a.m. EDT.
