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Another Russian Automated Space Truck Docks At Space Station
Moscow, Russia (SPX) May 16, 2007 Cargo transport spacecraft Progress M-60 which was launched from the Baikonur launch site on May 12, 2007, after three days of free flight in a low Earth orbit, has docked with the International Space Station. The spacecraft rendezvous with ISS, its fly-around, station-keeping and docking were performed in automatic mode. The spacecraft approached the docking port on the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS Russian Segment. The initial contact with the space station docking port took place at 09:10 Moscow Time. The crew of Expedition 15 to ISS (ISS-15) - cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin (RSC Energia cosmonaut tester, the crew commander), Oleg Kotov (Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center cosmonaut tester, a flight engineer) and Sunita Williams (NASA astronaut, a flight engineer) - were controlling the rendezvous and docking from the Space Station. Progress M-60 delivered to the Space Station 2.56 tons of various cargoes, including 815 kg of propellant, 420 kg of potable water, 241 kg of containers with food, 136 kg of cargoes of equipment for various space station systems, 63 kg of equipment for scientific experiments, on-board documentation and parcels for the crew. 377 kg of the cargos are intended for the US segment of the ISS. The crew is to unload the spacecraft and stow the delivered cargoes on-board the station, while moving into the spacecraft compartments the materials and hardware, which are no longer needed on-board ISS. The mission of the ISS Russian Segment is controlled by the Lead Operations Control Team (LOCT) from the Mission Control Center near Moscow (MCC-M) in cooperation with the US Mission Control Center in Houston (MCC-H). The on-board systems of the spacecraft and space station modules operate in normal mode. The Progress M-60 rendezvous, approach and docking with the space station was controlled under the supervision of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia President, general designer and the Technical Manager for flight tests of manned space systems N.N. Sevastianov, and the head of LOCT, and RSC Energia vice president and deputy general designer V.A. Soloviev.
earlier related report The station's 25th Progress unpiloted cargo carrier brings to the orbiting laboratory more than 1,050 pounds of propellant, almost 100 pounds of air, more than 925 pounds of water and 3,042 pounds of dry cargo - a total of 5,125 pounds. P25 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:25 p.m. Friday. The spacecraft used the automated Kurs system to dock at the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin stood by at the manual Toru docking system controls, had his intervention become necessary. Expedition 15 crew members, Yurchikhin and flight engineers Sunita Williams and Oleg Kotov, will continue to use oxygen from the Progress 24 at the Pirs Docking Compartment. It is scheduled to remain there until mid-August. Once its cargo is unloaded, the new P25 will be filled with trash and station discards. It is scheduled to be undocked, deorbited and incinerated on re-entry on July 20. The Progress is similar in appearance and some design elements to the Soyuz spacecraft, which brings crew members to the station, serves as a lifeboat while they are there and returns them to Earth. The aft module, the instrumentation and propulsion module, is nearly identical. But the second of the three Progress sections is a refueling module, and the third, uppermost as the Progress sits on the launch pad, is a cargo module. On the Soyuz, the descent module, where the crew is seated on launch and which returns them to Earth, is the middle module and the third is called the orbital module. Related Links ISS Station at NASA Station and More at Roscosmos S.P. Korolev RSC Energia Watch NASA TV via Space.TV Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com
ISS Crew Size Could Be Doubled By 2009
Moscow (RIA Novosti) May 14, 2007Crews on the International Space Station will be increased from the current number of three up to six people by 2009, a senior official with the Russian Space Agency said Friday. "ISS crews will be increased to six people by 2009 and the station will go into full operation," Alexei Krasnov, the head of the agency's department for manned flights, said at the welcome ceremony for the 14th ISS crew. |
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