NASA has set its coverage schedule for the next Russian cargo flight to the International Space Station, with the unpiloted Progress 96 spacecraft targeted to launch on September 9 and dock two days later on September 11.
The spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:15 p.m. EDT on September 9 aboard a Soyuz rocket. NASA says Progress 96 will carry about three tons of food, fuel and other supplies for the station crew.
Progress 96 has a two-day trip to the station
After launch, Progress 96 is planned to make an autonomous rendezvous with the International Space Station and dock to the space-facing port of the Poisk module at 2:37 p.m. EDT on September 11. NASA's arrival coverage is scheduled to begin before docking.
The two dates are part of one logistics sequence rather than separate missions. Progress vehicles routinely deliver consumables, propellant and equipment, then remain attached to the station for months before being loaded with waste and sent away for a destructive re-entry.
NASA expects Progress 96 to remain at the station for about five months. Its arrival also depends on clearing the relevant traffic around the orbital laboratory.
Progress 94 leaves before the replacement arrives
Progress 94 is scheduled to undock on September 7, two days before the new cargo vehicle launches. That departure creates a clean handover in the station's supply chain: an older vehicle leaves, the replacement launches, and the new spacecraft takes its place after the rendezvous.
NASA's September 3 announcement is a schedule, not a report that the mission has already happened. Launches and docking operations can move if teams need to respond to technical conditions, weather or other mission constraints. The useful dates for viewers are therefore targets to watch rather than completed milestones.
For people following the flight, the sequence is straightforward. Progress 94 is due to depart September 7. Progress 96 is targeted to launch September 9 at 12:15 p.m. EDT. After the planned two-day journey, it is scheduled to dock at Poisk on September 11 at 2:37 p.m. EDT.
The cargo flight is routine in the best sense of the word. A continuously occupied space station depends on regular, carefully timed resupply missions, and Progress 96 is the next link in that chain. NASA has published the coverage timetable and cargo summary; the actual launch and docking still have to occur on schedule.
The mission also shows why station cargo schedules are reported with several linked milestones. A successful launch only starts the trip; navigation, rendezvous and docking remain separate operations before the supplies are available to the crew. Keeping those stages distinct avoids turning an announced launch target into a completed resupply. NASA's coverage plan gives viewers a clear checkpoint for each part while mission controllers keep the flexibility to adjust the timetable if conditions require it. Progress flights are uncrewed, so the docking sequence is managed as an automated rendezvous rather than a crewed arrival. That makes the planned Poisk docking time a separate event worth following after launch coverage ends.
Reporting notes