A Russian Soyuz rocket launched the robotic Progress 96 freighter from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 16, 2026 at 9:33 a.m. EDT (1333 GMT). Progress 96 is loaded with about 3 tons of food, propellant and other supplies for the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Credit: NASA
Russia launched the uncrewed Progress 96 cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station on September 16, 2026, carrying about three tons of food, propellant and other supplies for the station’s seven-person crew. A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 13:33 UTC, placing the freighter on a planned three-day trip to the ISS.
The ascent and spacecraft solar array deployment proceeded normally. Progress 96 is expected to dock with the station around September 19, when the crew can begin unloading its supplies.
Roscosmos’ Progress 96 cargo spacecraft launches from the Baikanour Cosmodrome on a Soyuz rocket on Sept. 16, 2026. (Image credit: NASA)
The mission follows the departure of Progress 94 from the station’s Poisk module on September 7, clearing a docking port for the incoming spacecraft. Progress 96 is expected to remain attached to the ISS for about five months. Before it departs, the crew will fill it with waste; the freighter will then be directed into a destructive atmospheric reentry over the Pacific Ocean.
Progress is one of four spacecraft types currently used for operational ISS cargo deliveries, alongside Japan’s HTV-X, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus and SpaceX’s Dragon. Dragon can return cargo to Earth, while Progress, HTV-X and Cygnus are expendable. Progress also carries propellant, making this delivery part of the station’s continuing supply of consumables for orbital operations as well as crew provisions.
The seven people aboard the ISS are NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and Anil Menon; European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov, Andrey Fedyaev and Anna Kikina. The next mission milestone is Progress 96’s rendezvous and docking after its three-day flight.
