A few hours ago, the Progress MS-17 spacecraft blasted off atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After about nine minutes it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and was placed on its route. The cargo spacecraft began its resupply mission to the International Space Station also called Progress 78 or 78P. In this mission, the route used is the one that requires about two days.

The Progress MS-17 cargo spacecraft is carrying a total of about 2,439 kilograms (a bit more than 5,370 lbs) of various types of supply including food, water, air, oxygen, propellant, and more such as a series of products for the International Space Station crew, various science experiments, tools, and various hardware.

Since 2018, the Russian Progress space freighters have often been launched on an ultra-fast track for a journey that lasts just over three hours covering just 2 orbits. It requires a very precise series of maneuvers and above all the adjustment of the International Space Station’s orbit. That’s done particularly on the occasion of astronaut launches to minimize the time they spend in space. In space freighters’ case, a much longer journey is not a problem. Consequently, the Russian space agency Roscosmos opted for the use of the “classic” route which requires two days of travel for the Progress MS-17 cargo spacecraft’s mission in which it covers 33 orbits.

The Progress MS-17 cargo spacecraft is scheduled to reach the International Space Station on Friday, around 1 UTC. The Progress has an automated docking system, so it will reach the Poisk module on its own. This is an unusual docking destination, due to the fact that an air leak was discovered in the Zvezda module. For security reasons, the Russian space agency Roscosmos decided for the docking with another module.