A robotic Russsian cargo ship arrived at the International
Space Station on Sunday after a communications glitch caused the freighter to
abort its first rendezvous and docking on Friday.
Flying on autopilot, the Progress spacecraft eased into a parking slip on the station’s Zvezda service module at 12:17 p.m. EDT. The ship had been slated to arrive Friday, but it lost radio contact with the space station about 25 minutes before docking and ended up sailing past the outpost.
NASA says the six crewmembers living on the station were never in any danger.
Russian flight controllers traced the problem to electronics interference with a station television transmitter and were ready to take advantage of the next opportunity when the Progress would be properly aligned for docking, which was Sunday.
“Today went by the book, a smooth and uneventful approach and docking automatically," said NASA commentator Rob Navias, during a television broadcast of Sunday’s docking.
The Progress is loaded with 2.5 tons of fuel, water, air, equipment, spare parts and other gear for the station crew.
Tags: NASA, Space Station
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