The six astronauts on the International Space Station can look forward to fresh clothes and replenished toothpaste supplies with the launch Friday of a European supply ship, according to dpa. The Edoardo Amaldi, launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana, is carrying nearly 7 tons of supplies, instruments for experiments and fuel. The unmanned freighter is to reach and automatically dock with the space station Wednesday to resupply the crew of Americans Dan Burbank and Don Pettit; Russians Oleg Kononenko, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin; and Dutchman Andre Kuipers. At the end of its five-month mission, the Edoardo Amaldi is to head back to Earth, carrying trash from the station, but it won't land. Instead, it will burn up in the atmosphere. The European Space Agency plans to send another two supply ships to the station through 2014. The ships are built by the EADS subsidiary Astrium in the northern German city of Bremen.
