Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Progress MS-01Automatically Docks With ISS

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: December 23, 2015 at 12:20:55 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Progress MS-01Automatically Docks With ISS

The first new series Progress MS vehicle berthing to the ISS occurred
December 23, 2015
Today, on December 23 the first new modification Progress MS cargo transport vehicle developed and produced by RSC Energia successfully docked to the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS).
The cargo vehicle docking to Docking Compartment (DC1) Pirs of Service Module (SM) Zvezda of the ISS is performed in the unmanned mode on December 23 at 13:27:01 Moscow Time in the 34-th orbit of the flight. The ISS crewmembers monitored the berthing process from the Station.
The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle (LV) with the Progress MC CTV was launched from site No.31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 21 at 11:44:39 Moscow Time. The vehicle made a two-day rendezvous with the ISS.
Onboard the vehicle there are 2436 kg of different cargo including 1252 kg of "dry" cargo, 718 kg of propellant in the refueling system tanks, 420 kg of water and 46 kg of compressed gases (air and oxygen).
The vehicle delivered to the ISS more than a ton of cargo for Service Module (SM) Zvezda including a life-support system and the individual protection aids for cosmonauts, storage batteries for power supply system, sanitary-hygienic and medical equipment, consumables for gasanalytical equipment and thermal control system, onboard system maintenance and repair aids, fire extinguishers, etc.
For the Station crewmembers the following is prepared: containers with food rations, fresh food kit and parcels with personal things. In the cargo compartment of the vehicle there are sets of onboard documentation, completing parts and power supply components for video and photographic equipment, hard disks, hardware for science research and experiments.
Onboard the Progress MS CTV there are also 127 kg of the U.S and European cargo, in particular the habitable environment monitoring aids, equipment and instruments for extravehicular activity, the weightlessness prevention aids, science hardware, the U.S. food and clothes for the Russian crewmembers.
Transport vehicles of a new modification such as Progress MS and Soyuz MS are developed as a result of the great modernization of the Progress M and Soyuz TMA vehicles.
The onboard command-radio system Kvant-B is replaced by single command-telemetry system (SCTS) with an additional telemetry channel. A new command radio link provides the signal reception via the Luch-5 relay satellites, due to which the vehicle radio visibility zones will be considerably expanded – up to 70% of the orbit duration.
The new modification vehicles are completed with modern onboard radio system for rendezvous and docking Kurs-NA. As compared with more earlier Kurs-A version, it has the improved weight-dimension characteristics and allows to remove from the vehicle equipment one of three radio antennas.
Instead of analog television system Klest the following is used in vehicles: a digital television system which allows to maintain communication between the vehicle and the Station via board-to-board radio link.
A new digital reserve loop control unit (RLCU) developed by RSC Energia, modernized angular rate sensor unit ARSU-3A and light-emitting diode headlight SFOK became a part of the vehicle onboard equipment of the Soyuz MS and Progress MS modifications instead of the equipment taken out of production.
Due to the use of the new ground and onboard radio systems it became possible to use up-to-date protocols of information transfer, as a result of which the vehicle control system operation stability increased.
The majority of technical decisions inherent in the Soyuz MS and Progress MS structure will be used when creating a new generation manned transport vehicle (MTV) which is developed by RSC Energia.

OAO RSC Energia is a leading enterprise of rocket-space industry, the prime organization for manned space systems. The Corporation is working to develop unmanned space and rocket systems (launch vehicles and inter-orbital transfer), high-tech systems for various applications to be used in non-space fields. Since August 2014 the Corporation is headed by Vladimir Solntsev.
RSC Energia press-center
© 2000 - 2015 S.P. Korolev RSC "Energia"

'We Have Contact!' First Progress MS-01 Ship Automatically Docks With ISS
© Photo: NASA

13:57 23.12.2015(updated 14:14 23.12.2015)
114830
The new Russian Progress MS-01 cargo vessel docked with the ISS in an automatic mode. The process needed no manual override.
KOROLYOV (Sputnik) – The first Russian Progress MS-01 cargo vessel has docked automatically with the International Space Station, a commentator at the Mission Control Center said Wednesday.
"We have contact! We have mechanical docking!" the commentator announced.

© 2015 Sputnik All rights reserved.

Progress spaceship docks with International Space Station
The Progress MS-01 spacecraft is seen on final approach to the space station's Pirs docking compartment. Credit: NASA TV
The first spacecraft in a new generation of Russian Progress cargo vehicles parked at the International Space Station on Wednesday, bringing a holiday delivery of more than 5,000 pounds of fuel, water and supplies for the research lab's six-person crew.
The Progress MS-01 supply ship arrived at the space station's Pirs module at 1027 GMT (5:27 a.m. EST) Wednesday after a two-day transit from a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Docking occurred as the space station sailed 407 kilometers (253 miles) over western Mongolia.
The uncrewed cargo carrier took 2,436 kilograms, or about 5,370 pounds, of equipment and fluids to the space station for the outpost's last supply delivery of the year.
According to a cargo manifest provided by Roscosmos — the Russian space agency — the Progress MS-01 mission took 880 kilograms (1,940 pounds) of propellant to the space station for refueling of the Zvezda service module and reboosts of the orbiting complex.
Also delivered Wednesday: 1,252 kilograms (2,760 pounds) of supplies and equipment in the Progress craft's pressurized cargo hold, 420 kilograms (926 pounds) of water, 24 kilograms (52 pounds) of oxygen and 22 kilograms (48 pounds) of air.
The cargo mission, known as Progress 62P in the space station's flight sequence, carried 379 kilograms (835 pounds) of Russian food rations, 199 kilograms (438 pounds) of napkins, waste containers and other sanitary equipment, 162 kilograms (357 pounds) of parts for the Russian power supply system, 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of medical and hygiene gear, and 35 kilograms (77 pounds) of batteries, hard drives and other support equipment.
The spacecraft blasted off aboard a Soyuz-2.1a rocket at 0844 GMT (3:44 a.m. EST) Monday, entering orbit less than 10 minutes later. The Progress MS-01 logistics freighter took a two-day trip to the space station — not the six-hour journey favored by Russian managers — to allow extra time test out new technologies installed on the spacecraft.
A Soyuz-2.1a rocket sent the Progress MS-01 spacecraft toward the International Space Station with a successful launch Monday. Credit: Roscosmos
The Progress MS series of cargo vehicles carry upgrades that will fly on Soyuz crew capsules will beginning in mid-2016.
While external views show little change from previous Progress supply ships, the Progress MS generation features an upgraded command and telemetry system, new digital communications equipment to improve video links with the space station during its rendezvous with the outpost, and a backup motion control system for the Progress spacecraft's manual control system, which cosmonauts on the station would use to take over if its autopilot failed during docking.
The Progress MS series of spacecraft also carry an improved Kurs rendezvous radar, which feeds range closure rate data to the capsule's computers during approach to the space station. A radio link with Russian data relay satellites in geostationary orbit is also installed on the new generation of Progress vehicles, allowing better communications between the spacecraft and ground controllers even when it is flying outside the range of ground stations on Russian territory, according to Roscosmos.
The spaceship's navigation system, space debris shielding and spotlight also see improvements, along with the mechanism that firmly latches the cargo capsule to the space station after docking.
Astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra cleared the way for the Progress docking with an unexpected spacewalk Monday to move a stuck robotic arm transporter along rails to a parking site on the space station's truss. Rules call for the transporter to be locked down for dockings of visiting spacecraft to caution against unsafe movement of the rail car.
The Progress MS-01 spacecraft will remain attached to the space station until early July, when it will undock and be guided to a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean with a load of the orbiting lab's trash.

© 2015 Spaceflight Now Inc.