Russia's Progress 60 cargo ship docked at the space station early Sunday with food and supplies. (Photo : NASA/Youtube)
On early Sunday, a Russian Progress cargo supply ship went for a smooth docking at the International Space Station where it transported much needed supplies and equipment worth 3 tons for the orbiting space lab.
The robotic spacecraft deployed its docking mechanism and engaged with the space station's Pirs compartment that is facing a magnificent view of Earth at 3:11 A.M. EDT. The spacecraft was launched two days prior from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
According to Russian space agency Roscosmos' flight director, Vladimir Solovyev, congratulations guys, your cargo vehicle has finally arrived as he radioed the Russian mission control center located near Moscow.
According to cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, we send our congratulations as well, as he replied from the ISS Zvezda command module, adding his thanks for sending the cargo to the space station, it certainly feels like Christmas in July, he says.
After a series of resupply launch failures, this successful launch and docking with the space station is met with relief from mission ground control and the crew aboard the ISS.
Last April 28, a Progress cargo resupply spacecraft fell back into Earth just moments after launch and prior to that week, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded during its flight, disintegrating the Dragon supply capsule's precious cargo worth 4,000 pounds of food and scientific equipment.
The cause of the SpaceX failure is not yet known however Russian engineers have already identified and applied necessary adjustments and technological upgrades with the problem they believed to have caused the Progress spacecraft to go out of control and crash into the Pacific ocean. Apparently, there were no significant problems attributed to its M-28M/60P vehicle.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted, as they say, third time's the charm! This is great news.
Even if two cargo supply spacecrafts failed to reached the ISS a few months ago, the crew assured that they have enough supplies to last them for normal operations until October. In August, a Japanese HTV freighter is scheduled to arrive at the space station where the crew will have enough stock to last them until the end of this year.
