At 1211 GMT on 31 July 2019, a Russian Soyuz 2-1A rocket lifted-off carrying the PROGRESS MS-12 cargo freighter to a precise intercept with the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, and was timed down to the second – with a more precise launch time of 12:10:46 GMT – in order to conduct a “super-fast” 2 orbit, 3-hour launch-to-docking manoeuvre for the freighter.
The Soyuz rocket lifts-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying the PROGRESS resupply vehicle into LEO. Courtesy of Roscosmos
The PROGRESS freighter was carrying; 1,184.5 kg of “dry cargo”, 800 kg of fuel for the ISS itself, 50 kg of oxygen and 420 kg of water. With this delivery the station’s most basic consumable – food – is stocked through to February 2020, even without another Progress mission.
Following this more rapid intercept with the ISS, the PROGRESS MS-12 craft docked with the station at 1530 GMT, the same day.
