Saturday's Progress 57 Space Station Departure Paves the Way for new Russian Re-supply Mission

Russia's Progress 57 re-supply capsule departed the International Space Station's Russian segment early Saturday, opening a docking port for the arrival of a successor just days away from lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The trash filled Progress 57 freighter departed the Pirs module at 2:41 a.m., EDT. It arrived on Oct. 29, 2014 with 5,800 pounds of propellant and other supplies for the six person crew.

Progress 59, which will carry a similar three ton cargo, is scheduled to lift off from Baikonur on Tuesday at 3:09 a.m., EDT, initiating a four orbit, six hour sprint to the orbiting science laboratory and an automated docking.

Progress 57, filled with space station trash, is scheduled to make a destructive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.