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2003
Report #27 
6 a.m. CDT, Sunday, June 8, 2003 
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 
 
An unmanned Russian resupply craft successfully blasted off from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today, carrying more than two tons
of food, fuel, water, supplies and scientific gear for the Expedition
7 crew aboard the International Space Station. 

The Progress 11 vehicle lifted off on time from its Central Asia
launch pad at 5:34 a.m. Central time (1034 GMT, 2:34 p.m. Baikonur
time). Less than nine minutes later the Progress settled into orbit,
and moments later, its solar arrays and navigational antennas had
been deployed. At the time of the Progress launch, Expedition 7
Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu were
flying near the Equator off the west coast of Africa at an altitude
of 240 statute miles. 

After three days of pre-programmed engines firings to reach the ISS,
the Progress will link up automatically to the Pirs Docking
Compartment on the Station’s Zvezda Service Module on Wednesday at
6:17 a.m. Central time (1117 GMT). Within a few hours, Malenchenko
and Lu will open the hatch to the ship and begin to unload its cargo.

Stowed in the Progress are replacement parts for environmental
systems in both the U.S. and Russian segments of the Station, office
supplies, two tanks of potable water, and some clothing items for the
two crewmembers. Also aboard the Progress are two experiment kits for
European Space Agency cosmonaut Pedro Duque, who will launch in
October on the Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle with the Expedition 8 crew for
about a week’s worth of scientific research on the ISS under a
contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Duque
will return to Earth with Malenchenko and Lu in the Soyuz TMA-2
vehicle currently docked to the Station. 

Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future
launch dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere
on the Earth, is available on the Internet at: 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Details on station science operations can be found on an Internet
site administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at: 

http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

The next ISS status report will be issued following the docking of
the Progress to the ISS on June 11, or earlier if events warrant. 

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