A robotic Russian cargo craft will launch toward the International Space Station on Wednesday (May 24), and you’ll be able to watch the liftoff live.
The Progress 84 freighter is scheduled to launch atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 8:56 a.m. EDT (1256 GMT).
You’ll be able to watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency. Coverage will begin at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT).
The cargo ship’s journey to the International Space Station will last lower than 3.5 hours: Progress 84 is scheduled to dock with the orbiting lab’s Poisk module at 12:20 p.m. EDT (1620 GMT) on Wednesday.
You’ll be able to watch that off-Earth rendezvous here at Space.com as well, via NASA TV. Docking coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT).
Progress 84 is filled with 5,492 kilos (2,491 kilograms) of food, water, propellant, cosmonaut clothing and other supplies, based on EverydayAstronaut.com.
The freighter can be carrying a wide range of scientific gear, including “a launch device with a nanosatellite intended for the Parus-MGTU experiment (conducted by the N.E. Bauman Moscow State Technical University). Cosmonauts will launch it to check the technology of deploying a solar sail,” EverydayAstronaut.com wrote.
The Progress vehicle, which began flying in 1978, is certainly one of three robotic spacecraft that currently deliver cargo to the ISS. The opposite two are private American vehicles — SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Northop Grumman’s Cygnus craft.
Progress and Cygnus are expendable, burning up in Earth’s atmosphere when their time in orbit is up. Dragon, nonetheless, is reusable, coming back down in soft, parachute-aided ocean splashdowns.