The Progress resupply vehicle is an automated, unpiloted version of the Soyuz spacecraft that is used to bring supplies and fuel to the International Space Station. The Progress also has the ability to raise the station's altitude and control the orientation of the station using the vehicle's thrusters.

Both the Progress M and M1 versions have a pressurized cargo module to carry supplies, a refueling module that holds fuel tanks containing propellant and pressurized gases, and an instrumentation/propulsion module where the Progress systems equipment and thrusters are located.

The Progress spacecraft is launched to the space station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket.

The Soyuz 2.1a rocket is a multi-use rocket, capable of launching civilian and military satellites to orbit as well as cargo and crew vehicles to the International Space Station.

Stats

Height: 46.3 m (152 ft)

Diameter: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)

Mass: 312,000 kg (688,000 lb)

Stages: 2 or 3

The rocket itself can launch from all three Roscosmos launch sites: the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in western Russia, and the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia.

For crew and cargo launches to the Station, it can only launch from Site No. 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Its inaugrual crew launch happened on April 7th, 2020, when it took two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut to space.

Image: RSC Energia / Roscosmos

Site 31/6 has been an active launch pad since January 14th, 1961. It has been used to launch R-7A, Vostok, Voskhod, Polyot, Molniya, and previous versions of Soyuz rockets.

It is currently used exclusively to launch the Soyuz 2 rockets.

A workhorse pad for satellite and robotic missions, it took up crew launch duties for Russian missions to the Station beginning in April 2020.

Baikonur Cosmodrome

Located in southern Kazakhstan, Baikonur was the world's first spaceport and the launch site for humanity's first orbital satellite, Sputnik, and Yuri Gagarin's first human spaceflight on April 12th, 1961.

Originally built as the Soviet Union's launch base, the collapse of the Union led to the Kazakh government leasing Baikonur to Russia until 2050.

The spaceport is operated both by Roscosmos, the federal space agency of the Russian Federation, and the Russian Aerospace Forces, a branch of the Russian Armed Forces.

Image: GK Launch Services / Roscosmos