In recent years we’ve got used to seeing the American Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft dock to the International Space Station in two phases. They in fact arrive at a close distance to be captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which is used to transport them to a hatch where it’s berthed completing the docking procedures. Instead, the Progress cargo spacecraft docks directly.
The Progress M-28M spacecraft uses an automatic docking system called Kurs, developed back in the times of the USSR. It allows the Station and the spacecraft to calculate in every moment of the maneuver their relative positions, the alignment and the approach speed. In an emergency, the Station crew can take manual control of the spacecraft.
The Progress M-28M cargo spacecraft regularly docked with the Russian Pirs module of the International Space Station. Tomorrow the crew will proceed with the opening of the hatch and the procedures to make the Progress M-28M an appendix of the Station. At that point, they’ll start the unloading operations, which should continue for the whole week.
The mission of the Progress M-28M spacecraft, also referred to as Progress 60, is basically accomplished. In fact, it can’t return to Earth so it will be filled with hardware that’s faulty or anyway has become unusable and assorted junk and will be be sent to disintegrate reentering into the atmosphere. This mission epilogue will take place in about four months.
Now the nations that run the International Space Station can evaluate more calmly the future plans to replace various experiments and hardware that got destroyed in the mishaps. In August the launch of a Japanese cargo spacecraft is scheduled and it’s possible that the first replacements might be launched.
All this waiting to see when the Cygnus cargo spacecraft will be launched again and the investigation on the Falcon 9 rocket mishap that led to the destruction of the Dragon. It’s in these difficult moments that we should really see the spirit of collaboration and the ingenuity of the Station’s partners. Ad astra per aspera.
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A success for the launch of the Russian cargo spaceship Progress M-28M to the International Space Station
The Progress M-28M spacecraft is carrying nearly 2.4 tons (almost 5,300 lbs) of cargo to the International Space Station. They include over 400 kg (almost 900 lbs) of water and more or less the same amount of food. Despite the loss of three cargo spaceships in less than a year, the crew still had about four months of food and water. However, the nations that manage the Station prefer to ensure supplies for at least six months exactly to mitigate the possible effects of mishaps.
According to the investigation results, the failure of the mission of the Progress M-27M spacecraft was due to a problem in its coupling with the Soyuz 2-1A rocket. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, had started alternating the use of this new version of its Soyuz rocket with the old Soyuz U. For the Progress M-28M freighter the use of the old version of the rocket was already scheduled so, after the end of the investigation, it was possible to immediately activate the procedures for this new mission.
The Progress M-28M cargo spacecraft will reach the International Space Station on Sunday, a little after 3 UTC. In recent years, the Progress spacecraft generally followed the fast track that allowed the arrival in just six hours but this time that wasn’t possible.
It’s not a problem related to recent mishaps but to the position of the International Space Station. The fast track requires considerable maneuvering precision but recently the Station was moved to avoid some potentially dangerous debris. The consequence is that the Station’s current position prevents the use of the fast track.
It was preferred to use the trajectory that takes two days to reach the International Space Station rather than move the Station to return it to the position required for the fast track. Given the recent mishaps, the only important thing is that the Progress M-28M arrives whole!