A truck with New Year presents was sent to the ISS crew from Baikonur

Rocket “Soyuz-2.1a” with transport cargo ship “Progress MS-21” was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The space truck, carrying equipment and food for the crew of the International Space Station (ISS), separated from the third stage at 03:28 Moscow time and went into orbit. Gifts for the New Year were also sent to the cosmonauts.

The flight to the ISS will be held on a two-day schedule. Docking with the small research module “Search” of the Russian segment of the ISS is scheduled for 05:50 Moscow time on October 28.

It was the 19th launch of a Russian launch vehicle in 2022, including the third with a Progress cargo spacecraft, the state-run Roskosmos corporation said in its Telegram channel. For Soyuz-2.1a, this was the 56th flight, and for Progress spacecraft it was the 174th flight in history, 85 of which were to the ISS.

Earlier, Roscosmos general director Yuri Borisov said that Russia will continue to work on the ISS until 2028. He noted that after 2024, cooperation will take place depending on the condition of the station, but “with high probability” will remain until 2028. Borisov added that the Russian Federation always clearly fulfills its international obligations.