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Russia to Send Fuel, Food, Water, Air to Iss

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 May 2004, 06:00 CDT

MOSCOW. May 11 (Interfax) - A Russian supply spaceship scheduled to take off on May 25 will take fuel, food, water and air to the International Space Station, the head of Russian mission control Valery Lyndin said on Tuesday.

The ship Progress will fly from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and dock with the Zvezda module of the ISS around 1400 GMT on May 27.

"The ship will deliver about 2,500 tonnes of cargo - fuel, containers with foodstuffs, water, and air - to Permanent Expedition 9 aboard the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Michael Fink. Equipment for scientific experiments and parcels from their families will also be delivered," Lyndin told Interfax.

He said the spaceship Progress would also bring clothing for the crew.

"Usually clothing for cosmonauts is delivered to the ISS several months before their arrival; the attires are transported by a cargo ship flying to the station. This time round, clothing for the expedition was also sent off in advance, but when the things were being sent off it was [Megan] McArthur and [Valery] Tokarev who were getting ready but then the composition of the crews changed and there was not enough time to send off the clothing. All they were able to bring with them aboard the ship Soyuz were the most necessary things," Lyndin said.

He said the ISS orbit would be raised by an average of 5 kilometers on May 18 to make the station's docking with the Progress possible.

A supply ship that is currently docked on the ISS is to be deorbited and sunk in the Pacific before Progress arrives. The undocking is planned for 0920 GMT on May 24.

"Within the next few days, the cosmonauts will start loading the ship with refuse and equipment that has already been used and is no longer needed," Lyndin said.

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