Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

After several failed supply missions, the ISS crew finally gets some goodies

Trevor Mogg
By

nasa robotic arm international space station
Naeblys / Shutterstock
Following two failed missions over the last few months, the International Space Station (ISS) has finally received a visit from an unmanned craft packed with supplies. The Russian Progress 60 cargo ship, which docked with the ISS early Sunday, brought with it three tons of food, fuel and supplies, “including 1,940 pounds of propellant, 106 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water, and 3,133 pounds of spare parts, supplies and experiment hardware,” NASA said.

It’s not clear if that experiment hardware includes Microsoft’s HoloLens, two pairs of which were lost in the SpaceX supply flight last week when the rocket exploded minutes after takeoff. Microsoft’s AR tech is set to be used by ISS crew members as a new tool for communicating with ground operators and to help with complicated repairs on the space station.

Recommended Videos

Sunday’s supply mission is the first to reach the ISS since April 17. Besides last week’s failed SpaceX flight, a Russian spacecraft that left Earth on April 28 also failed to reach the space station.

Related

Despite the loss of two supply rockets in recent months, NASA said the crew on board the ISS were never in any danger and had enough supplies for another three months. Still, everyone involved in Sunday’s effort, not least the astronauts on board the station, will have been mightily relieved to have seen this latest mission go without a hitch. Indeed, American astronaut Scott Kelly welcomed the arrival of the cargo spacecraft with an understandably upbeat tweet:

Two Russian cosmonauts are also on board the ISS – Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko. Padalka hit the headlines last week for breaking the record for the longest number of days in space. He’s now been off terra firma for 811 days, and aims to make it to at least 1,000.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch NASA’s Crew-3 astronauts share highlights of their ISS mission
Crew-3 astronauts talk about their mission on the ISS.

NASA’s Crew-3 astronauts have been talking about their six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shortly before their return to Earth.

NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, along with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, answered reporters’ questions during an event on Friday, April 15. All except Marshburn have been on their first mission to space.

Read more
How to watch Axiom-1 space tourists return from the ISS on Saturday
The 11-person crew aboard the ISS.

With the first fully private space tourism mission to the International Space Station (ISS) drawing to a close this Saturday, the Axiom-1 crew will soon be heading back to Earth on a SpaceX craft.

The crew's departure has been postponed several times due to poor weather conditions at the recovery site off the coast of Florida, but the weekend return is now looking increasingly likely.

Read more
Launch for Crew-4 mission to ISS confirmed for next weekend
SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts.

A new batch of astronauts are getting ready to head to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Crew-4 mission. The mission has now passed its readiness review and is on track for launch next Saturday, April 23.

The launch will see four astronauts taken to the space station on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The crew consists of NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren -- whom we interviewed about NASA's plans for crewed missions to the moon last year -- plus NASA colleagues Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins, along with European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Read more