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[b]Progress M-21M launches for space station[/b] A Russian Progress freighter loaded with nearly three tons of food, fuel, supplies and holiday gifts for the International Space Station's (ISS) Expedition 38 crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:53 p.m. CST Monday (2:53 a.m. Tuesday, Kazakh time). During its four-day journey to the orbiting complex, the ISS Progress 53 cargo ship will conduct a "flyby" of the station to test an enhanced docking system for future Russian spacecraft. At the time of launch, the station was flying about 260 miles over southern Russia, near the northeast border with Kazakhstan. Progress M-21M, which along with its Soyuz booster was rolled out to Baikonur's Site 31 launch pad on Saturday, is delivering 1,763 pounds of propellant, 48 pounds of oxygen, 57 pounds of air, 925 pounds of water and 3,119 pounds of spare parts and experiment hardware to the station. Once the Progress reached its preliminary orbit nine minutes after launch and deployed its solar arrays, it was set to begin a series of automated engine burns to put it on track to fly within one mile of the station on Wednesday. That close encounter "flyby" Wednesday at 3:53 p.m. CST (2153 GMT) will test lighter, more-efficient Kurs automated rendezvous system hardware for upgraded Soyuz and Progress vehicles. After it finishes its "flyby," the Progress will loop above and behind the station, returning Friday for a docking to the aft port of the Zvezda service module at 4:28 p.m. CST (2228 GMT).
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