During its final approach to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, Progress M-06M (38P) lost contact with its automated docking system and subsequently drifted beyond the orbiting laboratory.
[b]The view from Progress M-06M, the ISS not in sight.[/b] Credit: NASA TV
The unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft had reached its point of terminal approach, where it was expected to begin its flyaround of the station in order to precisely align itself with the docking port at the aft end of the Zvezda service module. At that point, the Progress -- for still unexplained reasons -- lost its telemetry lock on its active Kurs docking system with the comparable passive Kurs system on the ISS. The Kurs systems basically send radio beacons back and forth to one another to measure the range, distance and rate of closure between the two vehicles.
The Progress flew past the station at a safe distance.
The station crew reported seeing the Progress drift beyond their view, as they tried to reestablish telemetry with the spacecraft.
[b]Progress M-06M seen about 3.7 miles away from the ISS.[/b] Credit: NASA TV
The docking now aborted, Roscosmos and NASA flight controllers are assessing the problem and determining how to recover the Progress. Russian Mission Control advised the space station crew that another docking attempt would not be made today.
Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov was in the process of configuring the TORU back-up manual docking system when the Progress lost telemetry. Flight controllers are assessing if there was a connection between the two events.
Originally scheduled to dock with the station at 11:58 a.m. CDT, the Progress is loaded with 1,918 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 220 pounds of water and 2,667 pounds of equipment, spare parts and experiment hardware.