The Daily Broadcast: Progress MS-34 Launches Successfully to Resupply the International Space Station

New Orlan Spacesuit and Science Aboard Russian Cargo Ship

The Progress MS-34 cargo spacecraft has successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying over 2,500 kg of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. The uncrewed Roscosmos vehicle lifted off at 6:21 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 25, 2026, aboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, and is safely in orbit following a standard ascent profile.

The spacecraft, also known as Progress 95 in NASA nomenclature, is now en route to the Station on a roughly 48-hour rendezvous and will dock autonomously at the aft port of the Zvezda module on Monday, April 27, at 8 p.m. EDT (Tuesday, April 28, at 00:00 UTC). NASA’s live coverage of the rendezvous and docking will begin at 7:15 p.m. that evening on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

The 7,280 kg spacecraft is delivering approximately three tons of food, fuel, water, sanitary supplies, oxygen, and equipment to support the Expedition 74 crew. Among the most notable cargo items is a new Orlan spacesuit, the eighth in the Orlan-MKS series to arrive at the Station. The Orlan design, which traces its lineage back to Soviet spacewalks in the late 1970s and was refined through decades of use on Mir station, remains essential to Russia’s extra-vehicular activities programme aboard the ISS.

Beyond crew consumables, Progress MS-34 is carrying several scientific experiments. One study employs virtual reality goggles to monitor how the human body—specifically vision, the vestibular system, and spatial orientation—adapts to weightlessness. Another investigates the effects of stress on the immune and nervous systems, whilst additional experiments will examine bone mass loss in microgravity, microorganism impacts on materials, and methods to improve onboard water regeneration. These research activities underscore the Station’s ongoing role as a platform for human physiology and life-support innovation.

Once docked, the Progress vehicle will conduct orbital reboost burns to help maintain the Station’s altitude, which naturally decays over time due to atmospheric drag. This reboost capability is particularly valuable as the ISS approaches potential extended operations—the Station’s service life is now possibly scheduled through 2032. The spacecraft will remain docked for approximately seven months before being filled with waste and undocked for a destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, a standard end-of-life procedure for all Progress missions.

This flight marks the second Progress mission of 2026 and the second launch from Site 31/6 since the facility underwent repairs following damage sustained during the Soyuz MS-28 launch in November 2025. The next cargo mission to the ISS, SpaceX’s CRS-34, is scheduled for May 12 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Citations

“Progress 95 Cargo Craft Launches to Resupply Station Crew” – https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/04/25/progress-95-cargo-craft-launches-to-resupply-station-crew/
“Progress MS-34 to launch from Baikonur for ISS cargo delivery” – https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/04/progress-ms34/
“Progress 95 Cargo Craft Counts Down to Launch on NASA+” – https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/04/25/progress-95-cargo-craft-counts-down-to-launch-on-nasa/

Starlink Group 17-16

Provider: SpaceX
Date: April 26, 2026
Time: 2:37 PM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon 9

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.

ViaSat-3 F3 (ViaSat-3 Asia-Pacific)

Provider: SpaceX
Date: April 27, 2026
Time: 2:21 PM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon Heavy

The ViaSat-3 is a series of three Ka-band satellites is expected to provide vastly superior capabilities in terms of service speed and flexibility for a satellite platform. Each ViaSat-3 class satellite is expected to deliver more than 1-Terabit per second of network capacity, and to leverage high levels of flexibility to dynamically direct capacity to where customers are located.

Amazon Leo (LA-06)

Provider: United Launch Alliance
Date: April 28, 2026
Time: 12:52 AM UTC
Vehicle: Atlas V 551

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, this constellation will be managed by Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon. This constellation is planned to be composed of 3,276 satellites. The satellites are projected to be placed in 98 orbital planes in three orbital layers, one at 590 km, 610 km and 630 km altitude.

29 satellites are carried on this launch.

16 x Rassvet-3

Provider: Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)
Date: April 30, 2026
Time: 12:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Soyuz 2.1b

Note: Payload identities uncertain.

Batch of 16 Rassvet-3 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Russian Byuro-1440 (Bureau 1440) constellation for broadband high-speed internet access in Russia.