Cygnus Arrives at ISS, Progress 63P and SpaceX Dragon Set to Follow

The first of three cargo ships scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station over an exceptionally busy three week time-frame arrived over the weekend. On Saturday, the Orbital ATK Cygnus Cargo Ship S.S. Rick Husband successfully berthed with the Station, carrying, 7,700 lbs. of routine supplies as well as 250 science and research experiments, Cygnus was bolted into place at the Unity Module’s Earth facing port at 10:52 AM EDT.

Currently there are five spacecraft either docked or berthed to ISS, with Cygnus taking its place alongside two Soyuz crew vessels, as well as two Progress resupply ships. Soon there will be a 6th. Two weeks into the craft’s month-long stay, it will be joined by a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which is scheduled to launch to the Station on Friday, April 8th as part of the CRS-8 mission.

Even before that happens however, on Wednesday, ISS will see one of the Russian cargo vessels presently at the Station, Progress 61, depart from its position on the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module, and subsequently be replaced by another Progress, numbered 63P, which will launch from Kazakhstan on Thursday.