Russian Cargo Ship Docks Successfully at ISS to Deliver 3 Tons of Supply [VIDEO]

An unpiloted Russian cargo ship docked successfully at the International Space Station within six hours of its launch Saturday. The cargo ship was carrying nearly three tons of supplies for the Expedition 36 crew.

The ISS Progress 52 resupply ship that was launched from Kazakhatan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, docked at the space station's Earth Pirs port at 10.26 p.m. EDT, delivering 42 pounds of oxygen, 62 pounds of air, 926 pounds of water, 1,212 pounds of propellant, 3,395 pounds of spare parts, maintenance equipment and experimental hardware. Included in the cargo is a set of tools to be used by the astronomers to investigate and repair the spacesuits at the station, reports NASA.

The tools will be used to repair the spacesuits that malfunctioned during the July 16 spacewalk conducted by the U.S. astronaut Christopher Cassidy and European astronaut Luca Parmitano. During this space walk there was a water leak into spacewalker Parmitano's helmet. Due to this malfunction the spacewalk was terminated.

Prior to Progress 52, the docking port on Pris was occupied by the ISS Progress 50 cargo ship that spent five month at the station before it departed Thursday.

Before unloading the cargo, the crew aboard will check for leaks at the Pirs interface. On wrapping up the series of leak checks, they will empty the cargo and re-fill Progress 52 with trash and other discards from the station. Later this year, the cargo will be undocked to make a destructive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

The H-II Transfer Vechicle-4 is the next space station resupply delivery craft that is scheduled to lift off on August 3 from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. It will carry 3.6 tons (3.2 tonnes) of dry cargo, water, experiments and spare parts to the orbiting laboratory, according to NBC News.

Expedition 36 crew members include NASA's 'Karen Nyberg', who posted a video of how she manages to wash her hair in space; Chris Cassidy; Luca Parmitano (ESA); and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin, Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin.