The unmanned Progress 21 cargo ship docked at the aft end of the space station’s Zvezda service module at 17:41 GMT after a two-day spaceflight. The two spacecraft were flying 354 kilometres over the northern Greece at the time.
Vinogradov and Williams are expected to open hatches between the Zvezda module and Progress 21 just before 21:00 GMT, but will wait until Thursday to begin unpacking the space freighter.
Progress 20, is still docked at the space station, but will be discarded in mid-June.
Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress' main engine are scheduled today to fine-tune the ship's path to the space station. Additional rendezvous manoeuvres are planned Tuesday and Wednesday.
When the Progress launched, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams were flying 219 miles over the Earth off the northeast of Australia. This is their 26th day in space and their 24th day on the complex.
Carrying 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the new Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the aft port of the station's Zvezda Service Module at 17:40 GMT (1:40 p.m. EDT) Wednesday. The older ISS Progress 20 supply ship, which arrived at the station just before Christmas, will remain at the Pirs Docking Compartment until mid-June. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station's atmosphere.
The Russian unmanned Progress M-56 ship carrying 3 tons of fuel, food, as well as Easter gifts was successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:03 p.m. (Baikonur time).
Credit: Energia
It is scheduled to dock at the international space station on Wednesday. Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams began a six-month mission on the station April 1.
The Progress M-56 cargo spaceship with the Sojuz-U carrier rocket docked to it, has been installed at the launching complex of the Baikonur cosmodrome. The Progress spaceship will deliver to the International Space Station (ISS) 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel and various equipment, including biological experiments, such as grape snails and useful bacteria.
Psychologists are sending to the ISS materials which will help boost the morale of the crew, including audio and videocassettes, books and journals.
The Progress will be launched at 16:03 GMT (20:03 local time), on April 24, 2006, and will be docked with ISS at 17:45 GMT on April 26.
