Progress MS-05 cargo freighter pulls into port at ISS
An archive photo of a Progress cargo ship on final approach to dock with the Pirs module of the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA
On Feb. 24, 2017, the uncrewed Russian Progress MS-05 resupply spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS). The automated link-up with the Pirs docking compartment took place at 3:30 a.m. EST (08:30 GMT) while flying over the south Pacific Ocean.
The Progress docking probe then retracted to pull the cargo ship in closer to allow for the hooks between the two spacecraft to latch. That hard mate took place at 3:36 a.m. EST (08:36 GMT). Leak checks will occur over the next few hours before the crew opens the hatch.
Launched on Feb. 22, 2017, from Site 1/5 at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Progress MS-05, also called Progress 66, is carrying about 5,400 pounds (2,450 kilograms) of supplies, consumables, and propellant for the Expedition 50 crew.
It will remain attached to the orbiting laboratory until June. In the meantime, its contents will be unloaded and then reloaded with trash and other unneeded equipment. Once the freighter undocks, it will be commanded to deorbit over the southern Pacific Ocean.
Progress MS-05’s Friday-morning docking came less than 24 hours after SpaceX’s CRS-10 Dragon capsule was captured and berthed to the U.S. side of the ISS. There are now four vehicles attached to the outpost. The other two are the crewed Soyuz MS-02 and MS-03.
This was the first of any Russian spacecraft to dock with the ISS since the ill-fated Progress MS-04 launch. On that flight, a malfunction in the Soyuz-U carrier rocket’s second stage prevented the vehicle from reaching orbit.
This was the 157th Progress spacecraft to launch since the cargo freighter began flying in 1978. It is also the 68th to service the ISS.
The next cargo run to the space station is expected to be the OA-7 Cygnus spacecraft. It is scheduled to launch on March 19, 2017, atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The current visiting vehicle configuration at the International Space Station as of Feb. 24, 2017. Progress MS-05 is labeled as Progress 66. Image Credit: NASA
Derek Richardson
Derek Richardson has a degree in mass media, with an emphasis in contemporary journalism, from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. While at Washburn, he was the managing editor of the student run newspaper, the Washburn Review. He also has a website about human spaceflight called Orbital Velocity. You can find him on twitter @TheSpaceWriter.
