The Progress M-63/28P spacecraft undocked from the Pirs transfer module of the International Space Station (ISS) at 12:49, Moscow time. The progress cargo spacecraft will be dumped in the Pacific Ocean in four hours.
A breaking impulse will be given at 15:52, Moscow time and the spacecraft will begin de-orbiting and almost 50 minutes later at about 16:38, Moscow time its wreckage will reach the ocean surface in a specially designated area several thousand kilometres east of the New Zealands city Wellington - Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the Mission Control Centre. Source Tass
The Progress M-63/28P cargo ship packed full of rubbish is set to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) at 08:49 GMT, April 7, and be deorbited into the southern Pacific. The cargo ship delivered 2.5 metric tons of cargo to the ISS in February. The undocking will make room for the Soyuz TMA-12 with the 17th ISS expedition crew that is scheduled to dock on the 10th April. The 17th expedition crew -- Commander Sergei Volkov, Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, and South Korean female cosmonaut, Yi So-yeon -- are expected to launch from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan on the 8th April.
According to local officials, the wreckage of a carrier rocket that fell in Siberia after takeoff from Kazakhstan last month has been removed from land owned by a Russian shepherd. Specialists from the Russian space agency Roscosmos travelled to the farm in the Altai Republic.
"(they) cut the fragment into parts and loaded it on a Mi-8 helicopter" - Spokesman for the local administration.
The specialists also spoke to the shepherd, who is demanding compensation of 500,000 rubles. The incident occurred after the launch of a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space centre leased by Russia in nearby Kazakhstan on February 5. The three-and-a-half-metre long fragment landed a few metres from the shepherd's door. Although the shepherd was not injured, he said the incident gave him and his children a huge fright. No toxic traces have been found at the site of the fall. The local administration said it would back up his claim as the fragment fell outside the designated area for rocket debris. The Altai Republic has been used as a "cemetery" for the fallen fragments of carrier rockets launched from the Baikonur space centre for more than 40 years. Experts estimate that about 2.5 metric tons of "space waste" have fallen in unpopulated areas of the republic during this period. Source Novosti (adapted)
The Progress M-63 cargo ship has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS). The cargo ship delivered 2.5 metric tons of supplies for the ISS.
A new Progress cargo carrier launched to the International Space Station at 8:03 a.m. EST Tuesday with more than 2.5 tons of fuel, air, water, propellant and other supplies and equipment aboard. Progress 28 is scheduled to dock to the stations Pirs docking compartment at 9:38 a.m. EST Thursday.
The 28th Progress cargo ship will launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 13:02 GMT (8:02 EST) 5th February 2008. The Progress M-63/28P will re-supply the International Space Station.