Russian resupply spacecraft docks with Intl Space Station
MOSCOW. April 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian resupply spacecraft Progress M-10M on Friday automatically docked with the International Space Station's Pirs docking module and will start being unloaded by the ISS crew between 1850 and 1925 GMT on Friday, the Moscow Mission Control Center said.
After air pressure inside the Progress has to be brought to the level inside the ISS and the docking must be checked for airtightness before unloading starts, the center told Interfax-AVN.
The spacecraft is carrying 2.6 tonnes of cargo, including 627 kilograms for fuel for the refueling system, 51 kilograms of oxygen, 420 kilograms of water in Rodnik tanks, 250 kilograms of fuel for the ISS needs; sanitary and hygiene items, 194 kilograms of food and fresh products, and 141 kilograms of equipment for scientific experiments.
The cargo also includes a family of fruit flies, bacteria-fungi, seeds of dwarf tomatoes and super-dwarf wheat, a source in the rocket and space industry earlier told Interfax-AVN.
Flies will be used to study living organisms' ability to get adjusted to the space flight environment at a genetic level.
Three Biorisk-MSN containers filled with bacteria-fungi will be installed at the ISS surface during a spacewalk in July to study the bacteria's adaptation to space conditions.
The crew of the current ISS Expedition 27 are commander Dmitry Kondratyev, flight engineers Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko (all three are Russians), and astronauts Ronald Garan and Catherine Coleman of the United States and Paolo Nespoli of Italy.
The Progress M-10M was brought to orbit by a Soyuz-U rocket that lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1305 GMT on Wednesday.