A new batch of supplies is headed to the International Space Station.
Russia tonight (February 14) launched a Progress 87 robotic cargo ship on a Valentine’s Day delivery mission to the International Space Station.
The cargo ship was launched on a Soyuz rocket from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 GMT, 8:25 a.m. February 15, Baikonur Time).
Progress 87 is carrying approximately 3 tons of food, fuel, and other supplies.
If all goes according to plan, the cargo ship will arrive at the orbiting laboratory early Saturday (February 17) and pick up the Russian service module at 1:12 a.m. ET (6:12 p.m. Japan time). It is scheduled to dock with Zvezda. The rendezvous can be viewed live on Space.com through NASA. Coverage begins Saturday at 12:30 a.m. ET (05:30 GMT).
Progress is one of three robotic spacecraft currently flying resupply missions to the ISS, along with Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft and SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon capsule.
Progress and Cygnus are disposable spacecraft that burn up in Earth’s atmosphere after their time in orbit. But Dragon is designed to be reused. You can land safely in the ocean with a parachute and bring scientific samples back to Earth.