Russia Launched Progress 64, SpaceX's Dragon To Follow

Russia recently launched a Progress space freighter last Saturday, kicking off the two-day flight to deliver equipment and supplies worth over 5,000 pounds to the International Space Station. This is the first of two supply runs to the lab complex in 31 hours, with the SpaceX gearing for its own space launch on Monday.

Russian #Progress cargo spacecraft launched at 5:41pm ET for 2-day trip to @Space_Station https://t.co/ws7AQi38ah pic.twitter.com/kD1Vt229li

— NASA (@NASA) July 16, 2016

The space station was flying 252 miles above Chad, Africa, at the moment of its launch, and if all goes well, the MS-series ship would reach the station by 8:22 PM on Monday, docking at the Earth-facing Pirs module after 34 orbits of Earth, as noted by Space.com. Progress is said to remain attached to the lab for six months and will be due to depart in mid-January 2017. It will be then disposed of when it burns upon entering the Earth's atmosphere.

On board the supply ship, according to CBS News, include 1,940 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water and 2,833 pounds of equipment, as well as crew supplies and spare parts.

On the other hand, SpaceX's Dragon space capsule will return after only five weeks. It is due to arrive at the Space Station on July 20 - the anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, by the way - and is expected to take 4 hours to park safely.

The Dragon will return to earth on August 29. Unlike the Progress 64, it is equipped with a protective heat shield and parachutes that will allow it to land on the Pacific ocean, off the coast of Baja, California, carrying with it complete experiments and other gear from outer space that scientists here on Earth need to study.