NASASpaceFlight.com
  • Forums
  • L2 Sign Up
  • SLS/Orion
  • SpaceX
  • Commercial
  • ISS
  • International
    • All Chinese European Russian
      Russian

      Soyuz 2-1b launches EgyptSat-A – suffers apparent issues…

      February 21, 2019

      European

      Ariane 5 launches Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1 and GSAT 31

      February 5, 2019

      Featured

      Iran improving its rockets ten years after its…

      February 2, 2019

      Featured

      UK space sector on an upward trajectory after…

      January 31, 2019

      Chinese

      Long March 11 launches with four satellites

      January 21, 2019

      Chinese

      Long March 3B lofts Chinasat-2D

      January 10, 2019

      Chinese

      China lands Chang’e-4 mission on the far side…

      January 3, 2019

      Chinese

      Long March 2D concludes 2018 campaign with Hongyan-1…

      December 29, 2018

      European

      Ariane 5 launches Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1 and GSAT 31

      February 5, 2019

      European

      Successful P120C test another milestone towards Arianespace’s new…

      January 29, 2019

      European

      Hera adds objectives to planetary defense test mission

      January 7, 2019

      European

      Arianespace Soyuz ST-A launches with CSO-1

      December 19, 2018

      Russian

      Soyuz 2-1b launches EgyptSat-A – suffers apparent issues…

      February 21, 2019

      Russian

      Soyuz 2-1A launches Kanopus-V pair and additional payloads

      December 26, 2018

      Russian

      Proton-M successfully launches with Blagovest No.13L

      December 20, 2018

      Russian

      Soyuz MS-09 lands after unprecedented on-orbit repairs, inspections

      December 19, 2018

  • Other
    • All Shuttle Uncrewed
      Uncrewed

      Hayabusa2 conducts touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu

      February 21, 2019

      Commercial

      NG-10 Cygnus tests new capabilities as part of…

      February 18, 2019

      Featured

      Beginning of the end: NASA’s Van Allen probes…

      February 14, 2019

      Commercial

      NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS after 3 month science,…

      February 8, 2019

      Shuttle

      Saving Hubble: Endeavour’s ambitious mission to rescue the…

      December 13, 2018

      Shuttle

      Two NASA space telescopes returning to work following…

      October 23, 2018

      Shuttle

      Thirty years after Return To Flight from Challenger,…

      September 28, 2018

      Shuttle

      Commercial Crew assignments; NASA nears goal of human…

      August 3, 2018

      Uncrewed

      Hayabusa2 conducts touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu

      February 21, 2019

      Uncrewed

      Beginning of the end: NASA’s Van Allen probes…

      February 14, 2019

      Uncrewed

      NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS after 3 month science,…

      February 8, 2019

      Uncrewed

      After Kepler, exoplanet discoveries continue to inspire

      February 7, 2019

Popular
SpaceX launches Indonesian satellite launch and Israeli moon...
Soyuz 2-1b launches EgyptSat-A – suffers apparent issues...
Hayabusa2 conducts touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu
Boeing reaches milestone of firsts with forward join...
NG-10 Cygnus tests new capabilities as part of...
NASA set to purchase more Soyuz seats to...
Beginning of the end: NASA’s Van Allen probes...
NASA Stennis restarts RS-25 testing after December abort
International partners making progress on ISS funeral plans
Spaceflight notes expanding and evolving offerings as it...

NASASpaceFlight.com

  • Forums
  • L2 Sign Up
  • SLS/Orion
  • SpaceX
  • Commercial
  • ISS
  • International
    • All Chinese European Russian
      Russian

      Soyuz 2-1b launches EgyptSat-A – suffers apparent issues…

      February 21, 2019

      European

      Ariane 5 launches Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1 and GSAT 31

      February 5, 2019

      Featured

      Iran improving its rockets ten years after its…

      February 2, 2019

      Featured

      UK space sector on an upward trajectory after…

      January 31, 2019

      Chinese

      Long March 11 launches with four satellites

      January 21, 2019

      Chinese

      Long March 3B lofts Chinasat-2D

      January 10, 2019

      Chinese

      China lands Chang’e-4 mission on the far side…

      January 3, 2019

      Chinese

      Long March 2D concludes 2018 campaign with Hongyan-1…

      December 29, 2018

      European

      Ariane 5 launches Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1 and GSAT 31

      February 5, 2019

      European

      Successful P120C test another milestone towards Arianespace’s new…

      January 29, 2019

      European

      Hera adds objectives to planetary defense test mission

      January 7, 2019

      European

      Arianespace Soyuz ST-A launches with CSO-1

      December 19, 2018

      Russian

      Soyuz 2-1b launches EgyptSat-A – suffers apparent issues…

      February 21, 2019

      Russian

      Soyuz 2-1A launches Kanopus-V pair and additional payloads

      December 26, 2018

      Russian

      Proton-M successfully launches with Blagovest No.13L

      December 20, 2018

      Russian

      Soyuz MS-09 lands after unprecedented on-orbit repairs, inspections

      December 19, 2018

  • Other
    • All Shuttle Uncrewed
      Uncrewed

      Hayabusa2 conducts touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu

      February 21, 2019

      Commercial

      NG-10 Cygnus tests new capabilities as part of…

      February 18, 2019

      Featured

      Beginning of the end: NASA’s Van Allen probes…

      February 14, 2019

      Commercial

      NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS after 3 month science,…

      February 8, 2019

      Shuttle

      Saving Hubble: Endeavour’s ambitious mission to rescue the…

      December 13, 2018

      Shuttle

      Two NASA space telescopes returning to work following…

      October 23, 2018

      Shuttle

      Thirty years after Return To Flight from Challenger,…

      September 28, 2018

      Shuttle

      Commercial Crew assignments; NASA nears goal of human…

      August 3, 2018

      Uncrewed

      Hayabusa2 conducts touchdown on Asteroid Ryugu

      February 21, 2019

      Uncrewed

      Beginning of the end: NASA’s Van Allen probes…

      February 14, 2019

      Uncrewed

      NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS after 3 month science,…

      February 8, 2019

      Uncrewed

      After Kepler, exoplanet discoveries continue to inspire

      February 7, 2019

Soyuz U lofts Progress M-26M – Docks with the ISS

written by Chris Bergin February 17, 2015

The latest Russian Progress cargo vehicle has docked with the ISS on Tuesday, following its launch on a fast rendezvous, six hour “launch-to-dock”, mission. Progress M-26M (58P) was lofted uphill via a Soyuz-U launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:00 UTC, ahead of an docking to the aft port of Zvezda less than six hours later.

Progress Mission:

The latest Progress rode to orbit on the Soyuz-U carrier rocket, designated 11A511U Soyuz-U (142), following launch from the PU-5 LC1 ‘Gagarinskiy Start’ (17P32-5) launch complex at the famous Cosmodrome.

The previous Progress was lofted on a Soyuz 2-1A for the first time.

2015-02-17 00_17_12-LIVE_ Progress M-26M - Soyuz-U - Baikonur - February 17, 2015The Soyuz-U was developed as a standardized launch system, to replace the Voskhod and Soyuz and provide commonality with the Molniya-M.

It first flew in May 1973, and in 1976 the original Soyuz, Soyuz-M and Voskhod were all retired, with subsequent launches of their payloads being conducted by Soyuz-U rockets.

The Soyuz-U2 configuration, which was optimized to use synthetic propellant allowing it to carry more payload, was introduced in 1982, and used for around 90 launches before being retired in 1995.

See Also

  • LIVE: Progress M26-M
  • L2 Russian Section
  • L2 ISS Section
  • Click here to Join L2

With around 750 flights, the Soyuz-U is the most-flown orbital launch system ever developed.

It remains in service, and in the last few years it has mostly been used to launch Progress missions, as well as occasional military payloads.

Soyuz TMA dockingOnce orbital insertion was achieved, the race to hook up with the ISS, in just six hours, required two engine burns on the vehicle’s initial orbit of the Earth. The requirements were already be onboard the Progress’ computers.

With all going to plan, the second orbit required the assistance of ground controllers, with actual orbital parameters uplinked from a Russian Ground Site (RGS), allowing for a further eight rendezvous burns that were performed over the next five hours of flight.

This fast rendezvous technique has been successfully employed on a number of Progress and Soyuz flights lately.

Z517However, there was a problem during the “Dv3” burn on the Soyuz TMA-12 mission – which resulted in mission controllers opting to move to a new flight profile that allowed for Soyuz to arrive in the previously used two day rendezvous profile.

It was later revealed by sources that the 24 second DV3 burn did not occur due to an attitude problem with the Soyuz that lofted it into orbit – an error of just one degree.

This was apparently related to an over-performance of the Soyuz FG rocket – resulting in Soyuz being in a higher orbit that planned. As such, the TMA-12M’s flight computer provided an automated “no burn” command, due to the incorrect attitude of the vehicle.

Controllers opted to move to the back up plan of a two day rendezvous, with all burns relating to this flight profile conducted without issue. The Soyuz – with its three member crew – successfully docked with the MRM-2 port two days later.

2015-02-17 00_18_18-ATV-5 undocking - YouTubeFor most Progress arrivals, the usual pre-docking requirement involves the bidding farewell to a previously docked Progress.

However, for Progress M-26M’s arrival, the aft Zvezda port was vacated by ATV-5, the final ESA Automated Transfer Vehicle to complete an ISS mission.

The undocking was conducted on Saturday, ahead of a bitter-sweet destructive re-entry the following day.

The original plan was for the ATV-5 to spend a few weeks on orbit, ahead of a shallow dive return, allowing for additional data on the forces involved with entry. However, this was cancelled due to a loss of redundancy on the ATV systems.

2015-02-17 00_11_49-LIVE_ Progress M-26M - Soyuz-U - Baikonur - February 17, 2015Taking its place on the Station, Progress M-26M is delivering an estimated 2370 kg of food, fuel and supplies to the Station, which is part of the vital run of supplies required by the ISS, especially during this post-Shuttle era and not least because the United States is currently down to just one available Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) spacecraft – SpaceX’s Dragon.

Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft awaits a return to operations atop ULA’s Atlas V, following the loss of the CRS-3 vehicle during the Antares mishap.

Docking of the Progress successfully occurred at 16:57 UTC..

(Images: via Roscosmos, NASA and L2’s Special Sections)

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ – to view how you can access the best space flight content on the entire internet and directly support NASASpaceflight.com’s running costs).

 

ISSProgress
1
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
previous article
Europe’s final ATV cargo vehicle completes mission
next article
Falcon Heavy into production as Pad 39A HIF rises out of the ground

Related Articles

Spacewalkers install new comms system for future vehicles

March 1, 2015

HTV-7 concludes mission – achieves additional goals ahead...

November 7, 2018

Russian Military Satellite launched

May 3, 2006

ILS Proton-M successfully launches SES-4

February 14, 2012

Atlas V conducts OA-7 Cygnus launch to the...

April 18, 2017

Soyuz 2-1B successfully launches with Resurs-P

June 25, 2013

Soyuz TMA-18 home after second undocking attempt success

September 24, 2010

Progress M-09M docks to stowage-laden ISS

January 29, 2011

Soyuz 2-1a launches with Russian Meridian 4 military...

May 4, 2011

Progress successfully docks to ISS; Stage set for...

November 2, 2011

Active Discussions

Loading activity..
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NovaTech
Tweets by NASASpaceflight
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • About Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Advertising Info

©2005-2019 - NASASpaceflight.com

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkRead more