The unpiloted Russian ISS Progress 61 cargo ship undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station March 30, headed for a reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere and a fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean. The resupply craft arrived at the station last October carrying more than three tons of supplies for the station’s residents. Now loaded with trash, the Progress departed the station for several days of engineering tests by Russian flight controllers before it is deorbited April 8 to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. A new Progress will launch to the station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 31.
