The Progress M-21M cargo spacecraft departed the International Space Station on Monday headed for re-entry to close out a successful cargo mission to ISS that also demonstrated a new KURS navigation system. Undocking from the Zvezda module occurred at 13:29 UTC and sets the Progress up for a fiery trip through Earths atmosphere four hours after undocking to dispose of itself and the trash from ISS that the ship has been packed with over the past few weeks. Physical separation occurred right on time at 13:29:51 UTC as the Progress was pushed away from ISS by loaded springs inside the docking mechanism. Undocking took place high above Mongolia. Progress M-21M is set for its deorbit burn at 16:34 UTC on Monday. This retrograde firing of the KTDU-80 main propulsion system with its S5.80 engine will take about three minutes to slow the Progress down and place it on a path to intercept Earths atmosphere at a precisely calculated position. Re-Entry begins at 17:17 UTC over the Pacific Ocean so that any surviving components splash down in a remote area of the ocean, away from any populated areas. With Progress M-21M departing ISS, the docking port on Zvezdas aft end will remain vacant until August when the Automated Transfer Vehicle 5 spacecraft arrives at ISS. ATV-5 - the last ATV to fly - is currently being prepared for launch on an Ariane 5 rocket at the Guiana Space Center. Liftoff is currently set for July 25 followed by the docking on August 12. Source NASA/Spaceflight
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 14:31:44 +0000
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