The 37th Russian-built Progress unmanned spacecraft to dock to the International Space Station was manually berthed to the Pirs docking compartment at 1:30 p.m. CDT Saturday, May 1, after its autonomous docking system failed.
Credit: NASA TV
Progress M-05M brings to the orbiting complex 2.6 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, propellant and supplies for the Expedition 23 crew.
Due to the failure of the Kurs automated rendezvous system late in the spacecraft's approach, station commander Oleg Kotov manually flew the cargo vehicle to its docking as the two craft flew 220 miles over southern Russia near the Kazakh border. The Kurs shut down and defaulted to the TORU system after the craft failed to recognize its attitude orientation following one of its thruster firings to fine-tune its path to the station.
After conducting leak checks at the docking interface and opening the hatch to the resupply vehicle, the Expedition 23 crew will begin the long process of inventorying and unloading the craft's cargo. Once emptied, the Progress will be filled with trash and deorbited like its predecessors.
Progress M-05M (37P) launched at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday (11:15 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It replaces Progress M-03M (35P), which undocked from Pirs on April 22 and sent to its fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.
The newest supply ship joins three other Russian vehicles docked at the station, including two Soyuz and Progress M-04M (36P), which is scheduled to undock on May 10.