Russia is scheduled to launch a crucial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 16. The automated Progress 96 freighter will depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, riding atop a Soyuz rocket with a planned lift-off time of 9:33 a.m. EDT (1333 GMT).
Observers can follow the event live starting at 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT). Broadcasts will be available through NASA and on Space.com, providing coverage of the launch and subsequent docking procedures.
Progress 96 is stocked with approximately three tons of supplies, including food, propellant, and other necessities for the station’s crew. If the flight proceeds as planned, the spacecraft will autonomously dock with the ISS two days after launch. Once attached, the vessel will remain at the orbital lab for roughly five months before being filled with waste and deorbited to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.
The departure of the previous vessel, Progress 94, on September 7 cleared the way for this mission. Progress 94 undocked from the Poisk module to make room for its successor.
The Progress series remains one of four primary cargo vehicles supporting ISS operations, alongside Japan’s HTV-X, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus. With the exception of the reusable Dragon, these cargo craft are expendable and are designed to be destroyed during atmospheric reentry upon completion of their missions.
The seven astronauts currently residing on the ISS include NASA crew members Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir, and Anil Menon; Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev, and Anna Kikina; and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot. Adenot recently made history last month as the first French woman to perform a spacewalk.
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