Updates ISS Progress flights updates

[Cosmic Penguin]

....and what time is it again? :hmm:

It's undocking time! After staying for 2 months at the ISS, Progress M-22M is now ready for departure today with trash accumulated since February at 13:58 UTC. However before burning up in the atmosphere it has one more thing to do - participating in the "Radar-Progress" experiment to measure the effects of the Progress' propulsion system's effect on the ionosphere (last done on Progress M-17M). The de-orbit burn is scheduled on April 18 at 15:43 UTC.

Of course, this also means that something else is about to happen soon. But that's for another day.... :hello:

...and it's gone!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Report on Progress M-23M

"Hello? Yes this is ISS FE7 calling Houston.....yeah you know we need a part to repair the oxygen recycling rack......it's on CRS-3? Ah OK it should be shipped by mid-Mar......what? Grounded? There's contamination on the trunk? Ah OK it has been cleared.....now what? Another delay? A radar caught fire at the Cape? Oh @#*$......."

:facepalm: :rofl:

Well of course this isn't happening in real life, but the logistics to and from the ISS has always been in a state of flux since its very beginning, subjected to a huge number of constraints that affects the launch and landing schedules of visiting vehicles and requires constant attention for those working on ISS work plan scheduling (e.g. at MCC-H and MCC-M). (see Dragon CRS-3 and Cygnus CRS-2 for recent examples - the later of which may be grounded till mid-June due to delays with the former)

However there's one vehicle that seems to (at least in most cases) defy this law and seems to be working reliably and almost always on schedule for orbital delivery - the Progress. And while we are still waiting for the next Dragon to finally depart, another Progress is already now waiting to fly to the ISS! Progress M-23M is the 145th Progress to fly since 1978, and as with most of the others will carry more than 2.3 tonnes of cargo to the station - interestingly about the mass of the cargo lifted by the last Dragon and Cygnus combined.

So here are the details: :tiphat:

Launch location:

Baikonur Launch pad no. 1/5 45°55'12.85"N, 63°20'32.27"E

Launch dates and times:

{colsp=6}Launch times

Time Zone |

Australia - Sydney/AEST (UTC+10) ​

|

Baikonur / UTC+6 ​

|

Moscow / MSKS (UTC+4)/ ​

|

Universal / UTC ​

|

Washington / EDT (UTC-4) ​

Launch time (Primary): ​

|

01:26:25​

|

21:26:25​

|

19:26:25​

|

15:26:25​

|

11:26:25​

on: ​

|

Apr. 10, 2014​

|

Apr. 9, 2014​

|

Apr. 9, 2014​

|

Apr. 9, 2014​

|

Apr. 9, 2014​

Launch time (Backup): ​

|

00:41:18​

|

20:41:18​

|

18:41:18​

|

14:41:18​

|

10:41:18​

on: ​

|

Apr. 12, 2014​

|

Apr. 11, 2014​

|

Apr. 11, 2014​

|

Apr. 11, 2014​

|

Apr. 11, 2014​

{colsp=6}

[highlight][eventTimer]2014-04-09 15:26:25?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Progress M-23M Launch[/highlight]​

{colsp=6}Docking times

Time Zone |

Australia - Sydney/AEST (UTC+10) ​

|

Moscow / MSKS (UTC+4)/ ​

|

Universal / UTC ​

|

Washington / EDT (UTC-4) ​

Docking time (Primary): ​

|

07:20:13 ±3 min​

|

01:20:13 ±3 min​

|

21:20:13 ±3 min​

|

17:20:13 ±3 min​

on: ​

|

Apr. 10, 2014​

|

Apr. 10, 2014​

|

Apr. 9, 2014​

|

Apr. 9, 2014​

Docking time (Backup): ​

|

03:03 ±3 min​

|

21:03 ±3 min​

|

17:03 ±3 min​

|

13:03 ±3 min​

on: ​

|

Apr. 14, 2014​

|

Apr. 13, 2014​

|

Apr. 13, 2014​

|

Apr. 13, 2014​

{colsp=6}

[highlight][eventTimer]2014-04-09 21:20:13?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Progress M-23M docking to ISS[/highlight]​

Live Coverage Of The Launch:

• NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
• TSENKI Video Streams: http://www.tsenki.com/broadcast/broadcast/
• Roscosmos Video Stream: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=361

Progress M-23M (industry id 11F615A60 #427, NASA id Progress 55P) cargo spaceship

Cargo Manifest

Total mass of spacecraft at launch    7280 kg

Propellants for the propulsion system (KDU) 880 kg
Propellants in the refueling system     700 kg

Oxygen                                 22 kg
Air                                       26 kg
Water in Rodnik ("Creek") system tanks  420 kg

Pressured section cargo (total mass 1215 kg)

Equpiment for systems:
* SOGS atmosphere composition control    9 kg
* SVO water supply control               90 kg
* SOTR heat exchange control             23 kg
* STOR maintenance and repair           4 kg
* SUDN spacecraft navigation and rendezvous control system 14 kg
* MBRL communication antenna           4 kg
* EKTS power cables                         53 kg
* KS TOR maintenance equipment        1 kg 

*SGO Hygiene and sanitation items       361 kg
*Food rations, fresh products            367 kg
*Medical equipment, underwear,
personal hygiene and care, station
air purity checking and cleaning        81 kg
*Personal protection equipment          20 kg
*Photography and video equipment     16 kg
*Science experiments and apparatus
equipment                                     27 kg

*FGB Zarya equipment                     4 kg
*MRM-2 Poisk equipment                  9 kg
*Personal delivery for Russian
crew members                             132 kg

Total cargo mass                       2383 kg

Mission Profile

Ascent Chart:

1. Approach and Docking Chart:

The times below are in Moscow Standard Time (UTC+4):

The expected payload separation time: 19:35:16.18

2. Orbital Parameters of Progress M-23M and the ISS

Parameter|Designation|Prorgess-M-23M on 4/9|ISS on 4/10
Orbital Period|T, min|88.59 ±0.37|92.78
Inclination|i, degrees|51.66 ±0.06|51.66
Min altitude|h, km|193 +7 -15|411.21
Max altitude|H, km|245 ±42|432.19

Phase angle between the space ship and the ISS is about 25.4 degrees
Projected duration of the space ship at the nominal orbit is no less than 20 orbits (~30 hrs)

3. Transfer manoeuvres
(six hours approach scheme applied)

* Nominal two-burn manoeuvre forming a phasing orbit

Date|Burn at|Orbit #|Delta V, m/s|Burn duration, s|post-burn T,min|post-burn i,deg|post-burn h,km|post-burn H,km
09.04.14|20:12:16|1|35.49|88.8|89.81|51.63|233.4|313.9
09.04.14|20:55:05|2|30.50|75.6|90.88|51.64|312.4|346.6
09.04.14|21:30:15|2|7.00|18.3|91.13|51.67|324.9|357.9
09.04.14|22:00:40|2|7.00|18.3|91.37|51.64|345.1|359.5

Autonomous approach program is initiated at 23:12:45.

4. Approach at the Close range

Fly-around, station keeping and docking procedures will be used on April 10, 2014 from 00:57:30 ±3 min to docking contact

5. Docking

Contact and capture will be performed on April 10, 2014, 2014 at 01:20:13 ±3 min

Docking is to DC-1 Pirs -Y docking port

Launch Vehicle:

{colsp=2}Characteristics

|

{colsp=2}

Soyuz-U​

Prime contractor:​

|

• Samara Space Sentre (Energia Holding enterprise)
  

GRAU Index:​

|

• 11A511U

Height:​

| 51.1 m

Diameter:​

| max 10.3 m

Liftoff mass:​

| 313 metric tonnes

Payload mass:​

| 6.95 tonnes at ISS orbit from Baikonur

1st stage (boosters B, V, G, D):​

|

• 4 X RD-117 engines
• Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
• Thrust/ISP in vacuum - / 316 s
• Thrust/ISP at sea level 79.4 tonnes / 253 s
• Total 1st stage's thrust at sea level: 411.1 tonnes

2nd stage (core A):​

|

• 1 X RD-118 engine
• Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
• Thrust/ISP in vacuum 102 tonnes / 314 s
• Thrust/ISP at sea level 83.5 tonnes / 257 s

3rd stage (block I):​

|

• 1 X RD-0110 engine
• Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
• Thrust/ISP in vacuum 30.38 tonnes / 359 s

The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2014.html#rate:

================================================================ 
Vehicle     Successes/Tries Realzd Pred  Consc. Last     Dates    
                             Rate  Rate* Succes Fail    
================================================================
Soyuz-U          747   767x   .97  .97     10    8/24/11  1973-

x Does not include Soyuz-U/Soyuz T-10-1 pre-launch fire that 
   resulted in escape tower firing saving crew, but destroying 
   launch vehicle on 9-26-1983.  Note that 10 additional 
   Soyuz-U launches with Ikar or Fregat upper stages (all 
   successful) are cataloged separately.

Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on April 9, 2014 (9 p.m.)

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 8C. Winds W at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 60%.

Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
9 PM|14°C|9°C|75%|50%|0%|97%|1004 hPa|6 km/h SW|

Chance of rain

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

As usual, the final processing flow of the Progress spacecraft looks like this:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yloV-TXA3Dc"]Вывоз РКН Союз-У с ТГК Прогресс М-23М[/ame]

I'm not quite bothered to post the photos out (very similar to previous launches) so please find them at here.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

5 minutes and counting....

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Liftoff. Booster sep.!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

In orbit!

IN 7K-STMA, 11F615 & 11A511 WE TRUST!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndy5cS-aoHU"]New Space Station Supply Ship Launches from Kazakhstan[/ame]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Already on approach to ISS - less than 2 km away.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

And docked to ISS at 21:14 UTC - 6 minutes ahead of schedule! :thumbup:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

And docked to ISS at 21:14 UTC - 6 minutes ahead of schedule! :thumbup:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

And another Progress spacecraft is about to undock from the ISS!

Except that it will only free-fly for 2 days. Progress M-21M, docked to the end of the Zvezda module, will undock in about 5 minutes from now to re-attempt the testing of the new Kurs-NA automatic approach and docking control system. During the first docking on November 29, problems with it forced the ISS crew to hand-fly it on final approach. The re-docking will occur on April 25 at 12:16 UTC.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

And another Progress spacecraft is about to undock from the ISS!

Except that it will only free-fly for 2 days. Progress M-21M, docked to the end of the Zvezda module, will undock in about 5 minutes from now to re-attempt the testing of the new Kurs-NA automatic approach and docking control system. During the first docking on November 29, problems with it forced the ISS crew to hand-fly it on final approach. The re-docking will occur on April 25 at 12:16 UTC.

The testing was uneventful and the free flight occurred as scheduled. :tiphat:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

After lingering at the ISS for over 7 months, Progress M-21M has now finally left the station earlier today at 13:29 UTC! De-orbiting should be occurring right now as I post.

From cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev:

Expect the next post on this thread not to happen till July 23 when M-24M goes up. :tiphat:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Well the change-of-guard for the standard celestial FedEx delivery spacecraft on the ISS is about to happen again! Progress M-23M will undock from the Pirs module today at 21:40 UTC (NASA TV coverage starts 10 minutes earlier), and it will linger around in orbit for yet another try of an experiment that measures the effect of its propellant exhaust on the ionosphere before being de-orbited on August 1.

Afterwards Progress M-24M will launch on July 23 at 21:44 UTC! Stay tuned for coverage... (as well as the 5th and last ATV to fly, but that's for another thread.... )

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Well the change-of-guard for the standard celestial FedEx delivery spacecraft on the ISS is about to happen again! Progress M-23M will undock from the Pirs module today at 21:40 UTC (NASA TV coverage starts 10 minutes earlier), and it will linger around in orbit for yet another try of an experiment that measures the effect of its propellant exhaust on the ionosphere before being de-orbited on August 1.

Afterwards Progress M-24M will launch on July 23 at 21:44 UTC! Stay tuned for coverage... (as well as the 5th and last ATV to fly, but that's for another thread.... )

It's gone as scheduled at 21:44 UTC yesterday:

See how trash is contained cleanly in the spacecraft before hatch closure!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Report on Progress M-24M

Irritated by that the Cygnus arrived more than 1 month late because one of the engines of the same type used to launch it blew up? Or that the last ATV is currently running 5 days late because of problems filling the Ariane 5 rocket's upper stage? Or......well, let's not even go into what that new SoCal aerospace company with lovely legs on rockets is doing.... :rofl:

Well - there's still one spacecraft that FedEx and UPS will approve of to deliver things to the ISS - the Russian Progress! Yes, RSC Energia's logistics spacecraft has been in use for more than 35 years (starting from the first ever multiple-port space station, Salyut 6 in 1978), and the "gold standard" of automatic logistics spacecraft continues its unglamorous yet essential service to the ISS. Today's flight of Progress M-24M is the 147th Progress to fly and the 56th to the ISS, and while there are mishaps, most of them are controllable and with the exception of one launch failure, all of them completed their major tasks of sending up cargo and sending down trash into the atmosphere. What a track record!

Launch location:

Baikonur Launch pad no. 1/5 45°55'12.85"N, 63°20'32.27"E

Launch dates and times:

{colsp=6}Launch times

Time Zone |

Australia - Sydney/AEST (UTC+10) ​

|

Baikonur / UTC+6 ​

|

Moscow / MSKS (UTC+4)/ ​

|

Universal / UTC ​

|

Washington / EDT (UTC-4) ​

Launch time (Primary): ​

|

07:44:44​

|

03:44:44​

|

01:44:44​

|

21:44:44​

|

17:44:44​

on: ​

|

Jul. 24, 2014​

|

Jul. 24, 2014​

|

Jul. 24, 2014​

|

Jul. 23, 2014​

|

Jul. 23, 2014​

Launch time (Backup): ​

|

06:59:35​

|

02:59:35​

|

00:59:35​

|

20:59:35​

|

16:59:35​

on: ​

|

Jul. 26, 2014​

|

Jul. 26, 2014​

|

Jul. 26, 2014​

|

Jul. 25, 2014​

|

Jul. 25, 2014​

{colsp=6}

[highlight][eventTimer]2014-07-23 21:44:44?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Progress M-24M Launch[/highlight]​

{colsp=5}Docking times

Time Zone |

Australia - Sydney/AEST (UTC+10) ​

|

Moscow / MSKS (UTC+4)/ ​

|

Universal / UTC ​

|

Washington / EDT (UTC-4) ​

Docking time (Primary): ​

|

13:30:35 ±3 min​

|

07:30:35 ±3 min​

|

03:30:35 ±3 min​

|

23:30:35 ±3 min​

on: ​

|

Jul. 24, 2014​

|

Jul. 24, 2014​

|

Jul. 24, 2014​

|

Jul. 23, 2014​

Docking time (Backup): ​

|

07:47 ±3 min​

|

01:47 ±3 min​

|

21:47 ±3 min​

|

17:47 ±3 min​

on: ​

|

Jul. 28, 2014​

|

Jul. 28, 2014​

|

Jul. 27, 2014​

|

Jul. 27, 2014​

{colsp=5}

[highlight][eventTimer]2014-07-24 03:30:35?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Progress M-24M docking to ISS[/highlight]​

Live Coverage Of The Launch:

• NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
• TSENKI Video Streams: http://www.tsenki.com/broadcast/broadcast/
• Roscosmos Video Stream: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=361

Progress M-24M (industry id 11F615A60 #423, NASA id Progress 56P) cargo spaceship

Cargo Manifest

Total mass of spacecraft at launch    7280 kg

Propellants for the propulsion system (KDU) 880 kg
Propellants in the refueling system     530 kg

Oxygen                                 26 kg
Air                                       22 kg
Water in Rodnik ("Creek") system tanks  420 kg

Pressured section cargo (total mass 1324 kg)

Equpiment for systems:
* SOGS atmosphere composition control    8 kg
* SVO water supply control               45 kg
* SOTR heat exchange control             27 kg
* STOR maintenance and repair           7 kg
* SUBA control system accessories     2 kg
* SEP power control                       110 kg
* EKTS power cables                         1 kg
* KSPE crew support equipment        37 kg 

*SGO Hygiene and sanitation items       66 kg
*Food rations, fresh products            371 kg
*Medical equipment, underwear,
personal hygiene and care, station
air purity checking and cleaning        119 kg
*Personal protection equipment          63 kg
*Photography and video equipment     16 kg
*Science experiments and apparatus
equipment                                     114 kg

*FGB Zarya equipment                    139 kg
*SO-1 Pirs equipment                      2 kg
*MRM-2 Poisk equipment                  3 kg
*Personal delivery for Russian
crew members                             125 kg
*US Segment equipment                84 kg

Total cargo mass                       2322 kg

Mission Profile

Ascent Chart:

1. Approach and Docking Chart:

The times below are in Moscow Standard Time (UTC+4):

The expected payload separation time: 01:53:33.18

2. Orbital Parameters of Progress M-24M and the ISS

Parameter|Designation|Prorgess-M-24M on 7/24|ISS on 7/24
Orbital Period|T, min|88.59 ±0.37|92.83
Inclination|i, degrees|51.66 ±0.06|51.65
Min altitude|h, km|193 +7 -15|415.10
Max altitude|H, km|245 ±42|430.06

Phase angle between the space ship and the ISS is about 20.0 degrees
Projected duration of the space ship at the nominal orbit is no less than 20 orbits (~30 hrs)

3. Transfer manoeuvres
(six hours approach scheme applied)

* Nominal two-burn manoeuvre forming a phasing orbit

Date|Burn at|Orbit #|Delta V, m/s|Burn duration, s|post-burn T,min|post-burn i,deg|post-burn h,km|post-burn H,km
24.07.14|2:31:12|1|41.81|104.2|90.04|51.64|236.3|335.9
24.07.14|3:13:45|2|44.48|109.2|91.60|51.64|333.4|393.8
24.07.14|3:48:51|2|7.00|18.1|91.85|51.67|355.9|402.1
24.07.14|4:19:36|2|7.00|18.1|92.11|51.64|367.4|406.2

Autonomous approach program is initiated at 5:26:37.

4. Approach at the Close range

Fly-around, station keeping and docking procedures will be used on July 24, 2014 from 07:12:40 ±3 min to docking contact

5. Docking

Contact and capture will be performed on July 24, 2014, 2014 at 07:30:35 ±3 min

Docking is to DC-1 Pirs -Y docking port

Launch Vehicle:

{colsp=2}Characteristics

|

{colsp=2}

Soyuz-U​

Prime contractor:​

|

• Samara Space Sentre (Energia Holding enterprise)
  

GRAU Index:​

|

• 11A511U

Height:​

| 51.1 m

Diameter:​

| max 10.3 m

Liftoff mass:​

| 313 metric tonnes

Payload mass:​

| 6.95 tonnes at ISS orbit from Baikonur

1st stage (boosters B, V, G, D):​

|

• 4 X RD-117 engines
• Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
• Thrust/ISP in vacuum - / 316 s
• Thrust/ISP at sea level 79.4 tonnes / 253 s
• Total 1st stage's thrust at sea level: 411.1 tonnes

2nd stage (core A):​

|

• 1 X RD-118 engine
• Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
• Thrust/ISP in vacuum 102 tonnes / 314 s
• Thrust/ISP at sea level 83.5 tonnes / 257 s

3rd stage (block I):​

|

• 1 X RD-0110 engine
• Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
• Thrust/ISP in vacuum 30.38 tonnes / 359 s

The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2014.html#rate:

================================================================ 
Vehicle     Successes/Tries Realzd Pred  Consc. Last     Dates    
                             Rate  Rate* Succes Fail    
================================================================
Soyuz-U          749   769x   .97  .97     12    8/24/11  1973-

x Does not include Soyuz-U/Soyuz T-10-1 pre-launch fire that 
   resulted in escape tower firing saving crew, but destroying 
   launch vehicle on 9-26-1983.  Note that 10 additional 
   Soyuz-U launches with Ikar or Fregat upper stages (all 
   successful) are cataloged separately.

Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan on July 24, 2014 (4 a.m.)

A clear sky. Low 19C. WNW winds at 25 to 40 km/h, decreasing to 10 to 15 km/h.

Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
4 AM|20°C|8°C|46%|0%|0%|0%|1008 hPa|14 km/h WNW|

Clear

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

T-10 minutes.....

Check out the mission related photos here!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

LIFTOFF! Boosters separated!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Progress M-24M is in orbit! See you at the station in 5.5 hours time.... :hello:

 

[SolarLiner]

And my desktop wallpaper is changed.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Progress M-24M is in orbit! See you at the station in 5.5 hours time.... :hello:

In a no nonsense way, the Progress reached the ISS' Pirs docking port at 03:31 UTC - 5 hours 47 minutes flight!

Now let's hope "Georges Lemaître" and a certain spacecraft from SoCal will behave too! :rofl: