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The Russian Progress M-26M cargo ship that has delivered supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) will be undocked on Friday, a representative of the Russian Mission Control Center told RIA Novosti.
"The [Progress] spaceship loaded with used-up equipment and waste from the crew will be undocked from the ISS at 13:18 Moscow time [10:18 GMT]. At 16:28 [13:28 GMT] its engines will be brought to a halt after which Progress will enter the dense layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. The splashdown of the cargo ship’s unburnt fragments is expected to occur in the non-navigational part of the Pacific Ocean at 17:17 Moscow time [14:17 GMT]," the representative said.
The Progress M-26M spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in February. It delivered fuel, oxygen, food and scientific equipment to the ISS.
In October, Russia plans to launch its first modernized Progress-MS cargo spacecraft to the ISS.
The current main ISS Expedition 44 crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Commander Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko, and NASA’s Scott Kelly. The backup crew consists of Russia’s Oleg Kononenko, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and NASA’s Kjell Lindgren.
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