Russian Progress Cargo Craft Docks to Station

An uncrewed Russian Progress 77 spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station's Pirs docking compartment on the station's Russian segment at 1:27 a.m. EST, two days after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Sunday, Feb. 14 at 11:45 p.m. EST (9:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, Baikonur time). The spacecraft were flying over Argentina at the time of docking.

The spacecraft is carrying a little more than one ton of nitrogen, water and propellant to the station and the Expedition 64 crew members who are living and working in space to advance scientific knowledge, demonstrate new technologies, and make research breakthroughs not possible on Earth.

Progress 77 is scheduled to remain docked to the space station's Russian segment until later this year. Instead of undocking from Pirs, this time Progress will stay connected and detach Pirs from the Earth-facing side of the station's Russian segment, where it has spent nearly 20 years in service as both a docking port and spacewalk airlock.

Progress then will fire its engines to initiate a destructive entry into Earth's atmosphere for both the spacecraft and docking compartment. Pirs' departure from the space station is scheduled to take place just days after the launch of the "Nauka" Multipurpose Laboratory Module on a Proton rocket from Baikonur. The multifunctional docking port and research facility will automatically dock to the port vacated by Pirs.