Russian resupply ship to space station gets ready for Friday launch

Roscosmos

Baikonur, Kazakhstan: The unpiloted Russian resupply ship to the International Space Station (ISS) has been rolled out to its launch pad, said NASA.

According to NASA, the ISS Progress 60 (60P) cargo craft is at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad preparing for a 12:55 a.m. EDT (10:55 a.m. Baikonur time) launch Friday, July 3, from Kazakhstan.

The Progress spacecraft, which is on a two-day trip to the space station, is delivering more than 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies to the crew and will dock to the Pirs docking compartment.

Meanwhile, the crew is also preparing for Japan’s next cargo mission due in August.

On Wednesday, NASA astronaut and one-year crew member Scott Kelly worked to get the station ready for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kounotori HTV-5 cargo craft, due for launch August 16.

The Japanese cargo ship will lift off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan for a four-day trip to the space station where it will be grappled and berthed to the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node.

Progress launch comes five days after NASA SpaceX's latest attempt to deliver supplies to the space station failed. SpaceX's Falcon rocket carrying its Dragon capsule ship exploded just miniutes after launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday, June 28.

NASA says the station currently is in good shape with adequate supply levels until at least October.