posted 02-11-2013 09:07 AM               

Progress M-18M launches to space station

A Russian cargo ship is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver nearly three tons of food, fuel and equipment for the Expedition 34 crew.

Progress M-18M, the 50th Russian unmanned craft to bring supplies to the ISS, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:41 a.m. CST (1441 GMT; 8:41 p.m. Kazakhstan time) Monday (Feb. 11) on an accelerated, four-orbit journey to rendezvous with the orbiting complex.

The freighter is scheduled to dock to the Pirs docking compartment at 2:40 p.m. CST (2040 GMT), delivering 764 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 3,000 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and logistics equipment — 2.9 tons of supplies in all.

That docking port on Pirs was most recently occupied by the M-16M (48P) craft, which undocked on Saturday after spending six months at the station.

Aboard the station’s Zvezda service module, Expedition 34 flight engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin will monitor Progress M-18M's approach using the telerobotic TORU system. The Progress is designed to dock automatically via the Kurs automated rendezvous system, but the crew can use TORU to take over should difficulties arise.

posted 02-11-2013 03:19 PM               

Progress M-18M arrives at space station

Russia's Progress M-18M (50P) resupply ship docked with the International Space Station's Pirs docking compartment at 2:35 p.m. CST (2035 GMT) on Monday (Feb. 11), delivering 764 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 3,000 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and logistics equipment — 2.9 tons of supplies in all.

The space freighter launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:41 a.m. CST (1441 GMT; 8:41 p.m. local time) on an accelerated, four-orbit journey to rendezvous with the station.

posted 07-25-2013 04:58 PM               

Progress M-18M departs space station

Russia's Progress M-18M (50P) resupply ship undocked from the Pirs docking compartment Thursday (July 25) at 3:43 p.m. CDT (2043 GMT).

Progress M-18M, which was filled with trash and discarded gear, is set to deorbit over the Pacific Ocean. Progress M-20M (52P) is set to replace M-18M when it launches Saturday (July 27) at 3:45 p.m. CDT (2045 GMT) and docks to Pirs about six hours later.