Progress spacecraft blasts off on quick trip to space station

Russia launched a Progress resupply freighter Wednesday on a six-hour journey to the International Space Station, delivering nearly 3 tons of fuel and supplies to the orbiting scientific research laboratory after a smooth automated rendezvous.

The Soyuz rocket lifted off at 1623 GMT (11:23 a.m. EST; 10:22 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now The unpiloted Progress M-22M spacecraft lifted off on top of a Soyuz rocket at 1623:33 GMT (11:23:33 a.m. EST) in temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, kicking off an expedited six-hour rendezvous with the space station.

The launch was timed for the precise moment necessary to reach the station in such a short time. The outpost was at an altitude of 260 miles over the western border of Kazakhstan near Volgograd, Russia.

Rick Mastracchio, one of the space station's six occupants, reported seeing the Soyuz rocket's fiery exhaust trail as the complex flew over Baikonur.

A series of rocket burns with the Progress craft's own thrusters fine-tuned the ship's path toward the complex, with the on-board automated rendezvous sequence commencing about two hours before docking.

The fast track rendezvous is now the standard approach for all Russian vehicles, including the Progress and crewed Soyuz capsules, replacing a longer two-day flight profile to the 450-ton complex.

Docking with the space station's Pirs module occurred at 2222 GMT (5:22 p.m. EST) as the vehicles flew over the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida.

The Soyuz rocket delivered the Progress to orbit about nine minutes after liftoff after launching into a clear night sky over the historic Baikonur launch base. The kerosene-fueled rocket shed its four strap-on boosters about two minutes into the flight, with its core engine and upper stage continuing to fire to propel the Progress M-22M spaceship into orbit with an altitude between 120 miles and 150 miles.

Moments after separating from the launcher's third stage, the Progress extended its two power-generating solar panels stretching 35 feet tip-to-tip, along with communications antennas and its navigation radar to guide the ship to docking with the Russian segment's Pirs module.

The Progress M-22M logistics ship is loaded with 1,446 pounds of propellant to be pumped into the Russian Zvezda service module, plus 110 pounds of oxygen and 926 pounds of water to bolster the space station's reserves.

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Progress spacecraft blasts off on quick trip to space station