NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 68 crew aboard the International Space Station.
The unpiloted Progress 83 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 1:15 a.m. EST (11:15 a.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, Feb. 9, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Coverage will begin at 1 a.m. on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
The Progress will be placed into an orbit for a two-day journey to the space station, culminating in an automatic docking to the aft port of the Zvezda service module at 3:47 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11. NASA TV coverage of rendezvous and docking will begin at 3 a.m.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology, and human innovation, enabling research and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth. NASA recently recognized 22 years of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, which has hosted 263 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA’s next steps in exploration including Artemis missions to the Moon and ultimately, human exploration of Mars.
Image: The Progress 81 cargo craft approaches the International Space Station for a docking to the Zvezda service module’s rear port. In the foreground, is the Soyuz MS-21 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module on the orbiting lab’s Russian segment. Credits: NASA Johnson.
