Source: Xinhua

05-07-2009 10:31

Special Report:   Tech Max

MOSCOW, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Progress M-66 cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and began autonomous flight, the Mission Control Center outside Moscow said on Wednesday.

File image

The cargo spaceship separated from the Pirs docking station at 7:18 p.m. Moscow time (1518 GMT) and started autonomous flight, said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the flight control center.

A number of geophysical experiments will be conducted on the spaceship during its two-week-long autonomous flight. Then it will reenter the atmosphere before plunging into a "spaceship cemetery" in the southern Pacific.

The spacecraft, which docked with the ISS on Feb. 13, brought 2.5 tons of supplies, including oxygen, food, clothes and medical equipment for the ISS crew.

-- Click for more news in Tech Max >>

 

Editor:Yang Jie