The unmanned Progress 29 Russian cargo freighter lifted off yesterday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan towards the International Space Station. Aboard are two tons of the usual supplies, including fresh clothing, food, and other cargo. Also aboard are 90 snails that will live on the station for five months (in their experiment container) before being returned to Earth to die in the name of science: examining the effects of long-term space occupancy on organisms.
Progress 29 lifted off from Baikonur at 4:22 PM EDT on Wednesday and is expected to dock with the ISS’s Zarya control module at 5:30 PM EDT on Friday. In the cargo hold of Progress 29 are 350 kg of station thruster propellant, 45 kg of compressed oxygen and air, and 420 kg (420 liters) of water. Also aboard are 1292 kg of dry supplies including 258 kg of food, 126 kg of medicine, and 128 kg of hygiene items.
After docking, the three-member ISS crew will unload cargo as needed and replace it with trash. In the space of about six months they will have completely consumed the resources on board and filled the Progress craft with trash. At that time, it will be jettisoned and ditched into a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.
Progress 29 will be joining the Jules Verne ATV which is currently docked with the ISS. In June both craft will still be docked when the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to dock.
The unmanned Progress 29 Russian cargo freighter lifted off yesterday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan towards the International Space Station. Aboard are two tons of the usual supplies, including fresh clothing, food, and other cargo. Also aboard are 90 snails that will live on the station for five months (in their experiment container) before being returned to Earth to die in the name of science: examining the effects of long-term space occupancy on organisms.
