A Russian robotic cargo ship will launch to the International Space Station on Wednesday, May 24, and you can watch the liftoff live.
THE Progress Freighter 84 is set to launch atop a Soyuz rocket from Russia Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 8:56 a.m. EDT (12:56 p.m. GMT).
You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly through the space agency. Coverage will begin at 8:30 a.m. EDT (12:30 p.m. GMT).
Related: How Russian Progress Spaceships Work (Infographic)
The freighter’s journey to the international space station will last less than 3.5 hours: Progress 84 is due to dock with the Orbital Laboratory’s Poisk module at 12:20 p.m. EDT (1620 GMT) Wednesday.
You can also watch this off-Earth rendezvous here on Space.com, via NASA TV. Docking coverage will begin at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT).
Progress 84 contains 5,492 pounds (2,491 kilograms) of food, water, propellant, cosmonaut clothing and other supplies, according to EverydayAstronaut.com.
The cargo ship also carries a variety of science gear, including “a launch device with a nanosatellite for the Parus-MGTU experiment (conducted by NE Bauman Moscow State Technical University). Cosmonauts will launch it to testing the deployment technology of a solar sail“, wrote EverydayAstronaut.com.
The Progress vehicle, which began flying in 1978, is one of three robotic spacecraft currently delivering cargo to the ISS. The other two are private American vehicles — those of SpaceX Dragon capsule and Northop Grumman’s Swan arts and crafts.
Progress and cygnus are expendable, burning in earth’s atmosphere when their time in orbit is up. Dragon, however, is reusable, descending in gentle, parachute-assisted ocean splashes.