spacetoday.net: Progress docks with ISS

Posted: Tue, Feb 4, 2003, 1:55 PM ET (1855 GMT)
Progress spacecraft on approach to ISS (NASA)

An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft carrying critical supplies docked with the International Space Station Tuesday morning. The Progress M-47 spacecraft, also known as Progress 10 by NASA, docked with the station at 9:50 am EST (1450 GMT). The Progress was launched from Baikonur two days ago and just one day after the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. The progress is carrying food, propellant, and other supplies for the three-man Expedition Six crew currently on the station. With these supplies, NASA estimates that the crew will have enough consumables to last through late June if, as expected, the shuttle remains grounded for an extended period. NASA, Rosaviakosmos, and other ISS international partners are currently working on contingency plans to support the station while the shuttle is grounded. Under consideration are plans to swap crews using the Soyuz taxi missions as well as operating the station with only two crewmembers to reduce the need for supplies. Russian officials have offered converting the FGB-2, the backup for the station's Zarya module, into a cargo carrier that could deliver additional supplies to the station.