14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) announce that the Progress 48 space capsule reached the International Space Station (ISS) earlier today. What is so special about this particular resupply mission is that the spacecraft docked to the station less than six hours after launch.
This was the first flight that attempted a new launch and navigation procedure. Usually, Russian Progress and Soyuz capsules take up to two days to track down the orbital lab, before they dock.
Progress 38 launched aboard a Soyuz delivery system from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, at 3:35 pm EDT (1935 GMT), on Thursday, August 1. Its automated docking system saw it latching on the ISS Pirs module at 9:19 pm EDT (0119 GMT), on August 2, less than six hours later.
The successful test of the new flight approach will be very appreciated by astronauts. Currently, all crew rotations aboard the station are handled through Russian Soyuz capsule. These vehicles carry three astronauts at one time, who spend 48 hours crammed up in a tiny space.
RosCosmos orbital engineers have developed the new paths for the capsules so that the flight is made as comfortable as possible for the crew. It was first tested on Progress 48 because this is an unmanned, resupply flight.
The cargo capsule carries food, water, scientific experiments, propellant for the ISS thrusters, and personal items for the six astronauts making up the Expedition 32 crew, Space reports.
The Russians are “looking to eventually take this into the Soyuz phase. If you can get the crew to orbit in six hours and onboard the International Space Station, that could be a tremendous benefit over the two-plus days it takes today,” NASA ISS operations and integration manager, Dan Harman, said.
In addition to extra comfort for the crew, the capsules themselves could carry more cargo, since the amount of fuel currently needed for two days of travel could be eliminated.
“The quicker rendezvous that you have, the less consumables you would need for the first day, and the better crew comfort in a small capsule,” ISS flight director Chris Edelen added.
The official says that same-day launch and docking procedures are very complex, and require tremendous amounts of calculations. Both the launching spacecraft and the ISS have to be in very precise positions when liftoff occurs.
Progress 48 is scheduled to remain docked to the ISS until December. After undocking, it will be purposefully destroyed in the upper atmosphere.