A Russian cargo spacecraft returned to Earth without a crew on May 28 as planned. The Progress 86 cargo ship departed the International Space Station (ISS) at 04:39 ET (08:39 GMT) and returned to Earth. Progress 86 disappeared hours later and burned up over the Pacific Ocean as planned, NASA officials said in an updated update.

Progress 86 was launched atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 1, 2023. The cargo ship arrived at the ISS two days later, delivering 5,600 pounds (2,540 kilograms) of food, scientific equipment and other supplies to astronauts in orbit. lab.

Progress 86 did not sit idle today; In its final hours, it served as a garbage truck, transporting garbage into the Earth’s atmosphere to be incinerated. Four spacecraft remain parked on the ISS: the Dragon capsule that operates the SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut mission for NASA, the Russian Soyuz crew spacecraft, the Progress 87 cargo ship, and the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship.