Why is this important?
The spacecraft is the 89th object in the Progress series and is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday. There, it will autonomously dock with the Zvezda module in the Russian segment of the station. Until Monday, that space was occupied by the Progress MS-26, which was detached as standard procedure after six months of being grounded and destroyed in the atmosphere during its journey to Earth.
What will happen in the International Space Station?
On Saturday, the Progress MS-28 will join five other ships currently docked at the ISS: two cargo ships — the Progress MS-27 and the Cygnus NG-21 — and three crew ships — Russia’s Soyuz, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, and Boeing’s Starliner.
American failure
The Starliner spacecraft, carrying two American astronauts, arrived at the International Space Station on June 6. Barry “Butch” Wilmore, the mission commander, and Sunita “Sunni” Williams were to stay there for a week. But due to technical issues, their stay has already been extended to 70 days. NASA announced at a press conference that the decision-making process on the astronauts’ fate is ongoing. The agency is considering keeping them at the station until February 2025 to return with the Crew-9 mission crew. This means that the Starliner capsule will return to Earth empty.
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