14 DAY TRIAL // At 9:14:37 pm EDT (2314 GMT) last night, an unmanned cargo capsule took off to the International Space Station, aboard a Soyuz delivery system. The Progress spacecraft is destined to supply the outpost with water, food, air, and scientific equipment, and it took to the skies from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. The facility is operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency. The Progress 35 craft is scheduled to dock on the ISS on Saturday, at 9:41 pm EDT (2341 GMT).
Because the launch occurred at dawn, the onlookers at the Cosmodrome could see a beautiful light spectacle adorning the rear of the Soyuz rocket, as it began its nine-minute climb into the atmosphere. Clear atmospheric conditions also meant that the trail left behind by the engines on the capsule's third stage could be tracked until they reached the horizon. The images were made available in a video supplied by RosCosmos, Space reports.
After the initial ascent, the Progress 35 spacecraft was parked in a preliminary orbit, where it began to unfurl its 35-foot-long solar panels, as well as its navigation and communication antennas. Over Thursday and Friday (October 15-16), the capsule is scheduled to perform a series of very precise thruster firings, which will guide it on a follow-up trajectory in regards to the ISS. It will track the station down for roughly three days, before finally approaching it and docking automatically.
When it grabs on to the station, it will do so on a Pirs module dock, the same that was until recently occupied by the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft. The latter returned home last Saturday, carrying former ISS Commander Gennady Padalka (RosCosmos), station flight engineer Michael Barratt (NASA) and space tourist Guy Laliberte. Progress carries about 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian segment of the station, as well as 926 pounds of water. In addition, some 1,750 pounds of hardware, supplies and equipment represent the dry payload.