A few hours ago, the Progress MS-19 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station in the mission also referred to as Progress 80 or 80P. The Russian cargo spacecraft, which blasted off last Tuesday, February 15, Russian time, carries food, water, scientific experiments, fuel, and various hardware.

The Progress MS-19 cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station’s Russian Poisk module. Today, the crew will probably proceed with the hatch opening and the procedures to make it an appendage to the Station. The Progress MS-19’s primary mission is accomplished. In fact, it can’t return to Earth, so it will be filled with pieces of hardware that are faulty or have become unusable for some reason and assorted garbage and will disintegrate coming back to the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Progress MS-19 space freighter is scheduled to remain docked with the International Space Station for over a year. On average, Progress missions last a little over six months. The date for its departure will be set later this year by the Russian space agency Roscosmos but this mission could break the record of duration established with the Progress MS-14 of 367 days.

The journey of the Progress MS-19 space freighter went smoothly and that’s good for the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which had to face various problems in recent times. They include some malfunctions in their spacecraft systems, which in a couple of cases required manual guidance to dock with the International Space Station. The arrival of two new modules, Nauka and Prichal, for the International Space Station’s Russian section was another step forward for Roscosmos.

The Progress MS-19 space freighter is the first spacecraft to reach the International Space Station in 2022. In the next few days, an American Cygnus cargo spacecraft will also arrive. In addition to the routine missions, which include Station crew rotation, some space tourists are scheduled to arrive this year as well: these are still exceptional journeys but private missions are growing involving different space agencies and private companies.