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Russian Progress 71 spacecraft successfully launches with ISS cargo


nir

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Russia’s Progress 71 spacecraft has launched with three tons of supplies destined for the International Space Station. The launch took place from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome a little after 1PM EST today. Everything went as planned, according to NASA, which says the spacecraft successfully entered preliminary orbit, deployed its solar arrays, and deployed the antennas used for navigation.

 

The launch involved the same type of rocket that experienced a failure in October. Both a NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut were forced to make an emergency landing back on Earth due to the failure. Russia’s Roscosmos space agency initiated an investigation into the booster failure.

 

Today’s successful unmanned launch has helped restore hope for a safe crewed launch scheduled for early December. According to NASA, today’s launch will involve the resupply ship completing 34 orbits around our planet before ultimately docking with the International Space Station on November 18.

 

NASA plans to broadcast coverage of that event on its NASA Television platform starting at 1:45PM EST. More than four months will pass with the Progress 71 locked at the ISS before it ultimately leaves to return to Earth. The capsule carries supplies, food, and fuel.

 

This will be one of two scheduled cargo resupply missions, says NASA. The second will involve Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket launching tomorrow with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft. The public will be able to watch that launch starting at 3:30AM EST via NASA TV, as well.


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Russia’s ‘perfect’ launch of cargo ship to space station clears way for crew’s trip

 

Russia successfully launched an uncrewed Progress cargo spaceship today to the International Space Station, using a Soyuz rocket similar to the one that malfunctioned last month.

 

No issues arose during the craft’s ascent to orbit from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, boosting mission managers’ confidence that the malfunction had been addressed and that a crewed Soyuz launch planned for next month could proceed.

 

“A perfect 8-minute, 45-second flight on a brisk day over in Baikonur,” NASA launch commentator Gary Jordan said after the 10:14 a.m. PT launch.

 

The Soyuz rocket failure on Oct. 11 triggered an abort sequence that forced NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin to make a ballistic descent back to Kazakhstan. The pair landed safely, but the incident sparked a temporary suspension of Soyuz launches.

 

Over the weeks that followed, Russian investigators determined that a sensor had been damaged during assembly of the rocket. As a result, one of the first stage’s side boosters didn’t separate cleanly from the rest of the rocket, throwing off the ascent.

 

 

Three uncrewed Soyuz launches have now been executed successfully since the findings were announced — on Nov. 3, Nov. 6 and today. Those successes have cleared the way for Dec. 3’s launch of NASA’s Anne McClain, Canada’s David Saint-Jacques and Russia’s Oleg Kononenko.

 

The three spacefliers currently aboard the station — Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev, NASA’s Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Germany’s Alexander Gerst — are due to head back down to Earth on Dec. 20. Thus, the success of today’s launch and the scheduled arrival of the three fresh crew members on Dec. 3 are key to keeping the space station occupied without any schedule disruptions.

 

The Progress craft is packed with 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station. It’s due to link up with the station on Sunday.

 

Early Saturday morning, another uncrewed cargo transport — Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spaceship — is scheduled for launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility atop an Antares rocket. If all goes according to schedule, the space station’s crew would use the orbital complex’s robotic arm to pull in the Cygnus for its berthing on Monday.


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knowledge-Spammer

The Progress craft is packed with 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies

thats a lot of food

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