After trying twice already, a load of supplies was finally delivered to astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) in July. An unmanned, Russian spacecraft left the country of Kazakhstan to land on the ISS with more than 2,700 kg of goods, which included food, fuel, oxygen, and more. The ISS crew tweeted that it felt like Christmas when they received the delivery.
The previous delivery attempts failed when the first unmanned rocket broke apart shortly after takeoff and the second rocket burned before it could arrive at the space station. However, the crew had enough supplies to live on until October, so the delayed delivery did not negatively affect their well-being. The ISS orbits about 400 km from the Earth, circling the entire planet every 90 minutes.
The ISS crew is made up of American astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko. Three more crew members plan to go to the space station on a Russian aircraft soon. Kelly and Kornienko are living at the ISS for one year to test the effects of space on the human body. Kelly has an identical twin brother who remains on Earth and will also be tested as a point of comparison.