MOSCOW. Feb 9 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian supply spacecraft Progress M-66 is to take off for the International Space Station (ISS) from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in less than 24 hours.
"The takeoff of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle with the Progress supply spacecraft is scheduled for 8.49 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday," Interfax-AVN was told at the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos).
Head of the diet section of the Institute for Medical and Biological Problems Alexander Agureyev told Interfax on Monday that 15 kilos of cottage cheese and fresh vegetables and fruit (apples, oranges, garlic and onion) had been loaded on the Progress. This amount should be enough for a month. In addition, the families of the ISS crewmembers added chocolates and a waffle cake to the food package.
Progress M-66 is the last but one spacecraft in the 300 series which is still equipped with analog control systems. In the future they will be replaced by spacecraft of the 400 series with a new onboard computer and miniature telemetric system. These systems were tested on the Progress M-01M spaceship launched to ISS in November 2008 and dumped in the Pacific Ocean last Sunday. After the completion of tests the systems will be installed in the new modification of the piloted Soyuz spacecraft.