Russia’s Progress 96 Freighter Lifts Off with 3 Tons of Supplies for the ISS

At exactly 9:33 a.m. EDT (13:33 GMT) on September 16, the familiar rumble of a Soyuz rocket echoed across the steppes of Kazakhstan as it hoisted the Progress 96 freighter toward the sky.

The launch was textbook‑perfect. From the moment the engines ignited to the graceful unfurling of the solar arrays, everything went off without a hitch. NASA’s Rob Navias, speaking on the live stream, called it “a flawless launch with an excellent climb to orbit.”

Inside the sleek, cylindrical hull of Progress 96 were about three metric tons of cargo – a mix of fresh food, water, scientific hardware, and propellant that the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will need for the next few months.

Once in orbit, the spacecraft will drift for roughly three days before performing a carefully choreographed approach to the station. When the docking port aligns, cameras will show the robotically‑controlled freighter hugging the ISS’s Poisk module, a moment that will be streamed live for space enthusiasts on Earth.

After delivering its payload, Progress 96 will stay attached to the outpost for about five months, serving as a temporary storage hub and a trash bin for used equipment. When its job is done, engineers will fill it with waste, fire up its thrusters, and guide it toward a fiery re‑entry over the remote Pacific Ocean – just as they did with its predecessor, Progress 94, earlier this month.

Progress is one of four operational cargo vehicles ferrying supplies to the ISS today, alongside Japan’s HTV‑X, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus. All except Dragon are designed to burn up in the atmosphere at the end of their missions.

Currently, seven astronauts and cosmonauts call the ISS home: NASA’s Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and Anil Menon; ESA’s Sophie Adenot, who recently became the first French woman to walk in space; and Roscosmos’ Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev and Anna Kikina.

So, as Progress 96 settles into its temporary berth, the station’s multinational crew can look forward to fresh provisions, new experiments, and the comforting knowledge that another reliable supply line is humming along above us.