14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) will conduct a series of orbital maneuvers today, meant to test their updated space docking system. The tests will use the Progress 47 capsule, which arrived in low-Earth orbit this April.
The spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 4:26 pm EDT (2026 GMT), on Sunday, July 22. It is scheduled to dock to the Russian-built Pirs module early tomorrow, at 9.57 pm EDT July 22 (0157 GMT July 23).
The upgraded docking system, called Kurs-NA, is to be installed on the next Progress and Soyuz space capsules, and will use a single antenna instead of five. All Russian spacecraft can dock to the ISS automatically, unlike Japanese capsules, which need to be captured via the station's robotic arm.
In addition to reducing the number of required antennas, Kurs-NA will also use less power than the previous system, will provide increased security, and will feature more up-to-date electronics, Space Fellowship reports.