NASA recently announced its plans for the end of life of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2031, but until then there is plenty of work to be done on board. The current crew, consisting of NASA’s Mark Vande Hei, Raj Chari, Thomas Mashburn, and Kayla Barron, plus European Space Agency’s Matthias Meurer, and Roscosmos’s Pytor Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, will receive an uncrewed Russian cargo craft this week, filled with supplies.
NASA will livestream the craft’s launch and docking, and we’ve got the details on how to watch the stream from home.
Watch to expect from the launch and docking
The Russian Progress 80 uncrewed spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying nearly three tons of supplies for the space station. This includes food for the crew, fuel, and other supplies needed on the station. It will travel over several days before docking with the station’s Poisk docking compartment, which is part of the station’s Russian segment.
Once the craft arrives at the station, it will remain docked for some time while the crew removes the supplies from inside it. The Russian space agency will then announce a departure date for it.
How to watch the launch and docking
Both the launch and the docking of the Progress craft will be livestreamed by NASA. Coverage of the launch begins at 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. PT) on Monday, February 14. The launch itself is scheduled for 11:25 p.m. ET (8:25 p.m. PT).
The craft will travel overnight and arrive at the space station early in the morning of Thursday. You can tune back in to watch the craft docking coverage from 1:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, February 17 (10:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday, February 16). The docking is scheduled for 2:06 a.m. ET (11:06 p.m. PT).
To watch the coverage, you can either head to NASA’s website or use the video embedded near the top of this page.
