A Russian spacecraft loaded with fresh supplies as well as photographs and mementos to be used to mark upcoming World War II victory commemorations has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS).
The Russian Progress 75 resupply ship was met by the ISS’s three-man crew — U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russians Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner — and will remain docked at the station for seven months.
The robotic freighter will also be on hand to help welcome SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on its first-ever crewed flight, scheduled to take place on May 27.
That flight will be the first orbital human spaceflight to launch from the United States since NASA’s space-shuttle fleet was retired in July 2011.
The Progress 75 launch is also being used for a special commemorative campaign to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, which Russia celebrates on May 9.
Russians were invited to send pictures and names of relatives who died in the war to Moscow’s space agency, Roskosmos, and the items will be displayed as part of the country’s “Immortal Regiment” campaign.