Launch of Russian Rocket ISS Progress 83 Cargo Ship
Early on Thursday, Russia launched a cargo mission to a space station. Liftoff is scheduled for 1:15 a.m. ET.
You can watch live coverage of Russia's launch of the robotic cargo mission to the International Space Station early morning on Thursday, February 9.
On Thursday at 1:15 a.m. EST (06:15 GMT), the robotic Progress 83 freighter is scheduled to lift off atop a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is operated by Russia.
If everything goes as planned, Progress 83, which is carrying around 3 tonnes of food and other supplies, will chase the International Space Station (ISS) for two days.
Progress 83, eventually, will dock with the orbiting lab on Saturday, February 11 at 3:49 a.m. EST (08:49 GMT), where it will spend about 6 months there.
Progress 83 will dock with the Zvezda module's rear port on the station's Russian side. The Progress 81 spacecraft, which had arrived at the ISS in June 2022, left that port on Monday night (Feb. 6).
What is Progress 83 Cargo Ship?
The Progress is one of three currently operational robotic ISS resupply vessels, along with SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Cygnus, which is built by Northrop Grumman.
Progress and Cygnus are designed to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere at the end of their orbital missions, while Dragon is reusable; the SpaceX capsule makes ocean splashdowns and can fly again.
If everything goes as planned, another Russian spacecraft will launch from Baikonur later this month toward the ISS. The Soyuz spacecraft is set to launch on the night of February 19.
This Soyuz, which will replace another Soyuz that was damaged by an apparent micrometeoroid strike in mid-December, will launch without any crew members on board.
Unless an urgent evacuation of the station is needed, that other Soyuz has been declared unfit to transport astronauts back to Earth.