Russia Launches Progress Supply Vessel for the Fastest Trip Ever to the International Space Station

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An unloaded Russian supply vessel of 2.8 tons of supplies and equipment took off from Kazakhstan and was put into orbit on Monday almost at the same time the International Space Station was passing directly overhead, putting set up a three-and-a-half hour short appointment – the fastest ever for the station's schedule.

The goal is to shorten the time it takes for a team from the station, inside a Foyuz ferry station, a trip that traditionally took two days or so 34 orbits. The Russians have already tested a six-hour rendezvous in four orbits, but the new technique will further reduce time – a welcome relief for astronauts and cosmonauts alike.

The Russians made such an appointment on the two most recent launches of progress, but in both cases, delays were ordered due to unrelated problems in the last moments of the countdown. Due to complex orbital constraints – a variety of specific launch-day conditions must be met – both spacecraft have finally used more traditional two-day approaches.

But the third time was the charm, the countdown the spacecraft Progress MS-09 / 70P thundered at 17:51:34 EDT (GMT-4, 3:51 am local time) and left the cosmodrome from Baikonur.

At launch, the International Space Station Crossing the Space at nearly eight kilometers per second, it was 370 miles southwest of Baikonur. Fifty-nine seconds after take-off, the station sped 260 miles directly over the launch site and, moments later, bounded the cargo ship.

By the time the Progress ship separated from the third leg, second after take-off, the lab complex was 1,004 miles away with both spacecraft on the same orbital plane.

The exact timing of the launch, the distance between the mothership and the station when progress has reached the orbit and the precise orientation of their Given the perfect launch of the image, the robot Automated Progress had to catch up with his career after a series of carefully scheduled rendezvous rocket fire to adjust the altitude of the supply ship. a mooring to the Pirs module facing the Earth at about 9:39 pm

On board: 1,168 pounds of propellant to help maintain the station's orbit, 3,450 pounds of dry cargo, supplies of equipment. crew and spares, 114 pounds of oxygen and air and 926 pounds of water.

Two American freighters are also attached to the station – a SpaceX Dragon capsule that arrived on July 2 and a Northrup Grumman spacecraft (formerly ATK Orbitale) Cygnus arrived in May.

The Cygnus, scheduled to depart on July 15, will be used Tuesday for a test to determine if the US spacecraft can be used in the future to raise the altitude of the station, a task normally performed by Russian thrusters or by Progress.

For Tuesday's test, the relatively small main engine of the Cygnus will be fired for 60 seconds, which will increase the station's orbit by only 360 feet. Engineers will study the stresses and loads transmitted by the burn to determine if the Cygnus spacecraft can be used in the future for more routine orbiting maneuvers.