A Russian Progress freighter loaded with 2.8 tons of cargo will launch towards the International Space Station right now (Sept. 11), and you’ll watch it dwell.
A Soyuz rocket is scheduled to carry off from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan right now at 11:54 a.m. EDT (1554 GMT; 8:54 p.m. native time in Kazakhstan), sending the robotic Progress 93 freighter into orbit.
You can watch the motion right here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the space agency. Coverage will start at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT).
If all goes in accordance with plan, Progress 93 will dock with the station’s Zvezda service module on Saturday (Sept. 13) at 1:27 p.m. EDT (1727 GMT), delivering 2.8 tons of meals, propellant and different provides to the astronauts of the present Expedition 73 mission on the ISS, in accordance with a NASA update.
You can watch the rendezvous dwell as properly; NASA’s protection of that occasion will start at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT) on Saturday.
Progress 93 will keep docked with the ISS for about six months. It will then depart loaded with astronaut trash, which is able to dissipate, together with the freighter, in Earth’s atmosphere.
Today’s launch will be followed in relatively short order by that of another freighter — Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus vehicle, which will lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday (Sept. 14) at 6:11 p.m. EDT (2211 GMT). You can watch that when the time comes as well.
Like Progress, Cygnus is designed for one-time use. But the other currently operational ISS cargo craft, SpaceX’s Dragon, is different: At the end of each mission, it splashes down in the ocean under parachutes for recovery and reuse.