Progress MS-24 resupply ship put into orbit, heads to ISS

MOSCOW. Aug 23 (Interfax) - A Soyuz-2.1a rocket has put the Progress MS-24 resupply ship into orbit, Russia's Roscosmos said in a stream.

The space ship separated from the rocket's third stage at 4:17 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday and headed to the International Space Station (ISS). The journey will take two days.

The docking with the Zvezda module of the ISS' Russian segment is scheduled for 6:50 a.m. on August 25.

The Soyuz-2.1a LV coupled with Progress MS-24 blasted off from Area 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:08 a.m. on Wednesday.

The ship will spend 174 days in orbit, Roscosmos said.

According to Roscosmos materials, Progress MS-24 will orbit the Earth 34 times, covering a distance of 1.4 million kilometers before parking at the ISS.

The ship will deliver 2,495 kilograms of cargo, including 500 kilograms of fuel, 420 kilograms of drinking water, 40 kilograms of nitrogen, and 1,535 kilograms of medical and hygiene products, food, clothes, operational equipment, tools and materials for Expedition 69 and scientific experiments.

The spacecraft will also deliver SOVA-2-228 and SOVA-2-426 orientation systems for video spectral equipment built in Belarus for the Uragan experiment to test technical means and methods for monitoring the development of catastrophic natural and manmade phenomena on the Earth or their forerunners, will also be brought to the ISS, Roscosmos said.