Washington: The Russian automated Progress M-26M cargo spacecraft has undocked from the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station (ISS), according to NASA.
The unpiloted spacecraft, which NASA identified as Progress 58, left the space station at 6:19 a.m. EDT, Friday, August 14, moving away from the orbiting laboratory to a safe location where it will remain until flight engineers command it to reenter Earth’s atmosphere.
The Russian Progress #ISScargo ship departed the @Space_Station at 6:19amET/10:19 UTC. http://t.co/KX5g7zfYQe pic.twitter.com/yZimAZEq2c
— NASA (@NASA) August 14, 2015
The intense heat of reentry will cause the craft to burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
The undocking of the Progress 58 vehicle cleared the Zvezda docking port for the relocation of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft on August 28.
Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineers Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscocmos will move their Soyuz from the Poisk module to the Zvedzda docking port.
The relocation will enable delivery of a new Soyuz to the station on September 2, which will then bring Kelly and Kornienko home next March to conclude their one-year mission at the orbiting laboratory.
Progress M-26M was launched from Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan on February 17, 2015, and docked with the Zvezda service module less than six hours later. The spacecraft delivered 2.37 tons of food, fuel and supplies to the space station.
The next cargo craft, Progress M-29M, is scheduled to launch to the ISS on October 1.
