Progress Vehicle, Shooting Star, Or...?

By Nancy Atkinson - November 1, 2011 at 1:38 PM UTC | Space Exploration

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International Space Station Commander Mike Fossum captured this amazing view of the Progress M-10M cargo ship burning up in Earth's atmosphere after it undocked from the space station on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011. Via

Twitter, astronaut Chris Hadfield

-- who is scheduled to command the ISS next year -- said he received an email from Fossum about the picture, reminding him of a previous description Hadfield had given of what

exactly is

inside these departing cargo ships. It's a video we've shared before, but it's worth watching again.

Of course, the big news here is that the Progress M-10M

was

able to undock because of the

successful launch of the Progress 45

vehicle last Friday, setting the stage for allowing the Soyuz crew ships to start flying again, lessening the probability that the ISS will have to go unmanned. Stay tuned for updates on the launch of the station's next three residents, which is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2011.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com