A fresh load of supplies and equipment arrived at the International Space Station today after a robotic Russian space freighter eased up to the outpost and docked at the back end of the Russian side of the complex.Two months after an aborted docking, station commander Alexander Skvortsov was ready to take manual control of the approaching spacecraft but its automated docking system worked as intended and the Progress 39 vehicle hooked up with the outpost without incident.
The docking took place at 7:58 a.m. as the spacecraft flew 216 miles above Mongolia.
A loss of telemetry during a July 2 docking attempt caused the Progress 38 spacecraft to fly by the station at a safe distance. Flight controllers figured out the problem and the craft docked safely two days later.
The Progress 39 vehicle is carrying 1,918 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 375 pounds of water and 2,645 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and other supplies. It launched Friday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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With the retirement of the Space Shuttle the Russians will soon be the only way to get both supplies and people to the Space Station.
The future of U.S. space exploration and presence is now in the balance. And it has much less to do with technology or capability than it has to do with leadership. Where is the vision for the U.S. in space?
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