A Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress 94, experienced an antenna deployment issue shortly after launching toward the International Space Station on Sunday from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The Soyuz rocket lift-off went smoothly at 7:59 a.m. EDT, but one docking antenna failed to deploy.
NASA confirmed all other systems are functioning and said the spacecraft is expected to dock at the ISS’s Poisk module on Tuesday morning, with cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov ready to manually pilot it if necessary.
Progress 94 is carrying roughly three tons of supplies, including food and propellant, and will remain docked for six months before being deorbited with trash, Space.com has reported.
Unlike expendable freighters such as Progress, Japan’s HTV-X, and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, the only reusable ISS cargo craft is SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
