A Russian cargo spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) after a successful launch this afternoon, carrying nearly three tons of essential supplies for the orbiting outpost.
Russian Soyuz rocket launches the Progress 92 cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 3, 2025. (Image credit: NASA/Roscosmos)
The uncrewed Progress 92 freighter lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:32 p.m. EDT (1932 GMT), which was 12:32 a.m. local time on July 4. Operated by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, the spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS’s Poisk module on Saturday, July 5, at 5:27 p.m. EDT (2127 GMT), if all proceeds as planned.
The Progress 92 is delivering food, fuel, and other critical supplies to support ongoing operations aboard the ISS. NASA plans to provide a live broadcast of the rendezvous and docking procedures starting at 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT) on Saturday via its NASA+ streaming platform
Progress 92’s arrival will replace its predecessor, Progress 90, which departed from the Poisk module on Tuesday, July 1, after serving nearly seven months in orbit. Like all Progress vehicles, Progress 90 will undergo a controlled reentry and disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere — a fate that also awaits Progress 92 in about six months.
Meanwhile, Progress 91, launched earlier this year on February 27, remains docked to the station’s Zvezda service module, continuing its mission.
The Russian Progress series is one of three active cargo systems that regularly resupply the ISS. The others are operated by American companies: Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Like Progress, Cygnus is expendable and burns up during atmospheric reentry after completing its mission. However, SpaceX’s Dragon is reusable and uniquely capable of returning scientific experiments and other cargo safely to Earth.
The continued rotation of cargo vehicles is essential to sustaining ISS operations and supporting the crew's scientific and logistical needs as international cooperation in space exploration remains strong.
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