Cargo Mission Counting Down to Late Night Launch
Over 3 tons of food, fuel, water, oxygen and supplies stands ready for a sky high delivery to the International Space Station late tonight. Meanwhile, the three-person Expedition 44 crew is at work on a variety of space science and orbital maintenance as they await the two-day space cargo mission.
Russia’s ISS Progress 60 spacecraft is poised atop its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a 12:55 a.m. EDT launch Friday from Kazakhstan. The resupply ship will arrive Sunday at 3:13 a.m. and dock automatically to the Pirs docking compartment. The space station is currently well-stocked through October and the crew is fine despite the loss of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Sunday morning.
Back on orbit, a pair of cosmonauts, Commander Gennady Padalka and One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko, worked on Russian science exploring cell cultivation in space and a crew member’s exposure to radiation.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly participated in the maintenance of science hardware. Kelly disconnected cables from an experiment that observes Earth’s magnetic field, he gathered hardware for upcoming research in the Combustion Integrated Rack and restocked the Human Research Facility-2 with new supplies.
