NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Image above: The ISS Progress 39 cargo craft launches on time from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: NASA TV

The ISS Progress 39 cargo craft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:22 a.m. EDT Sept. 10. The Russian resupply craft is delivering 1,918 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 375 pounds of water and 2,645 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and other supplies for the Expedition 24 crew members. Docking is scheduled for 7:58 a.m. Sunday to the aft end of the Zvezda service module.

› Watch video of the launch

High winds at the launch pad Wednesday delayed the launch by 48 hours. With winds gusting up to 33 miles per hour Russian launch officials rescheduled Wednesday’s launch activities to Friday morning with no impact to operations onboard the International Space Station.

The station crew tested Zvezda’s docking system and configured television systems to prepare for the arrival of Progress 39. Its predecessor, the ISS Progress 38 undocked Aug. 31 and was deorbited Sept. 6 for a fiery destruction over the Pacific Ocean.

As the Expedition 24 crew gets ready for its orbital delivery, it is also preparing for the end of its mission. Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko are scheduled to undock Sept. 23 in their Soyuz TMA-18 for a landing in Kazakhstan a few hours later. Their undocking will mark the official end of Expedition 24 and the beginning of Expedition 25.

In Star City, Russia their replacements – Expedition 25 Flight Engineers Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka – are preparing for their mission beginning in October. The Expedition 25 crew will launch in a new, more advanced Soyuz vehicle, the Soyuz TMA-01M. The new Soyuz will feature an updated computer and telemetry system.

The three new crew members will join Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin. The orbiting trio has been aboard the station since June 17 when they joined Expedition 24 after arriving in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.