It’s been a strange few months for Russia’s space program. First, a strange hole showed up in a Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station and then a last-second abort due to rocket failure prevented a pair of new ISS crew members from reaching their destination. Russia is pretty sure it has everything sorted out now, which is great news, and today the agency gets back on schedule with the launch of a resupply mission to deliver supplies to the space station.
A rocket launch is always a neat sight to see so, as always, NASA will be taking the opportunity to live stream the event online for all to watch.
The mission will be unmanned but that doesn’t make it any less interesting. Regular supply shipments are crucial to ensuring the crew of the space station can continue to do their job. This time around, a Russian Soyuz rocket will push nearly three tons of supplies to the ISS, including maintenance hardware as well as incredibly important things like food, oxygen, and water.
If you’re interested in watching the launch you can do so via the YouTube live stream window above. The mission is scheduled to begin around 1:00 p.m. EST, with liftoff expected to take place by 1:14 p.m. EST. The ship will take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
This is a relatively routine mission. The ISS gets resupply shipments quite regularly, of course, so it should be business as usual for all involved. However, the recent hiccups on Russia’s side of things has put a bit of a spotlight on this launch, and you can bet that lots of eyes will be watching in case something else goes wrong.
