Russia will launch a robotic cargo spacecraft into orbit tonight (Oct. 25), and you’ll watch the motion stay.
A Soyuz rocket is scheduled to launch the uncrewed Progress 82 freighter towards the International Space Station (ISS) from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight at 8:20 p.m. EDT (0020 GMT and 5:20 a.m. native Baikonur time on Oct. 26).
You’ll be able to watch it stay right here at House.com, courtesy of NASA TV, or directly via the agency (opens in new tab). Protection will start 20 minutes earlier than liftoff.
Associated: How Russia’s Progress spaceships work (infographic)
Progress 82 is carrying about 3 tons of meals, gas and different provides for the crewmembers of the orbiting lab’s present Expedition 68 mission.
The freighter will chase the ISS for 2 days, lastly catching it and docking Thursday (Oct. 27) at 10:49 p.m. EDT (0249 GMT on Oct. 28), if all goes based on plan. You’ll be able to watch the arrival right here on House.com as effectively, courtesy of NASA TV . Protection is scheduled to start at 10:15 p.m. EDT (0215 GMT on Oct. 28).
Progress is one in every of three robotic spacecraft that at present fly cargo missions to the ISS. The opposite two are non-public American autos — SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Northop Grumman’s Cygnus automobile.
Dragon is reusable, however Progress and Cygnus are expendable craft that fritter away in Earth’s atmosphere when their time in orbit is up. The Progress 80 vehicle simply gave up the ghost, the truth is, departing the ISS on Sunday night (Oct. 23) and performing an intentional loss of life dive shortly thereafter.
One other Progress spacecraft stays on the ISS, nevertheless: Progress 81, which arrived in June.
Two crewed autos are docked with the orbiting lab for the time being as effectively. One is a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which arrived in September. The opposite is SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule Endurance, which is flying the corporate’s Crew-5 mission for NASA. Endurance launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Oct. 5 and reached the ISS a day later.
Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a ebook in regards to the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
