Christmas comes to ISS
2004-12-25 21:04
Moscow - A Russian cargo vessel bearing Christmas gifts and vital supplies of food and fuel is just hours away from docking with the International Space Station (ISS), the Itar-Tass news agency reported Saturday.
The Progress M-51 cargo vessel, launched on Thursday night from a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, was expected to arrive at the station around 2:31am on Sunday (2331 GMT Saturday), a source in the Mission Control Centre based near Moscow told Itar-Tass.
It would deliver more than two tonnes of water, oxygen, food, fuel and scientific materials - as well as Christmas presents - to Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao.
The crew were already busy preparing for the delivery, without which they would have to evacuate the station as they currently have enough supplies to last only until mid-January.
The space station, which had been supplied by US space shuttles until the February 2003 Columbia disaster, is now supplied only by Russian craft, which have a much smaller cargo capacity.
Mission Control said the crew were making the necessary preparations, including adjusting television cameras used to control the docking.