Progress M-7 Explained

Progress M-7
Mission Type:Mir resupply
Cospar Id:1991-020A
Spacecraft Type:Progress-M 11F615A55
Manufacturer:NPO Energia
Launch Mass:7250kg (15,980lb)
Launch Date: UTC
Launch Rocket:Soyuz-U2
Launch Site:Baikonur Site 1/5
Disposal Type:Deorbited
Orbit Reference:Geocentric
Orbit Regime:Low Earth
Orbit Inclination:51.6 degrees
Apsis:gee
Docking:
Docking Type:dock
Docking Port:Core Forward
Docking Date:28 March 1991, 12:02:28 UTC
Undocking Date:6 May 1991, 22:59:36 UTC
Time Docked:39 days

Progress M-7 (Russian: Прогресс М-7|italic=yes) was a Soviet uncrewed cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1991 to resupply the Mir space station.[1] The twenty-fifth of sixty four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration,[2] and had the serial number 208.[3] It carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-8 crew aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres. It also carried the second VBK-Raduga capsule, intended to return equipment and experiment results to Earth.

Progress M-7 was launched at 13:05:15 GMT on 19 March 1991, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.[3] It took three attempts to dock with Mir; the first of which occurred at 14:28 GMT on 21 March, and resulted in Progress M-7 approaching to within of Mir, before the attempt was aborted. During a second attempt on 23 March, approach was aborted when the spacecraft was from Mir; however, it passed within before moving away to a holding position whilst the problem was investigated.[4] The first two attempts had used the aft docking port of the Kvant-1 module; however, it was decided to use the forward port of the core module for the next one. At 10:12:00 GMT on 26 March, the Soyuz TM-11 spacecraft which had been occupying this port undocked from it, before flying around the station and docking with Kvant-1 at 10:58:59. Progress M-7 successfully docked with Mir at 12:02:28 GMT on 28 March.[5] [6]

During the 39 days for which Progress M-7 was docked, Mir was in an orbit of around 365kmby388kmkm (227milesby241mileskm), inclined at 51.6 degrees. Progress M-7 undocked from Mir at 22:59:36 GMT on 6 May, and was deorbited at 16:24:00 the next day, to a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.[7] [6] Its Raduga capsule, which had been deployed following the deorbit burn, came down in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic at around 17:20 GMT; however, efforts to recover it were unsuccessful.[6]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Progress M-7. US National Space Science Data Center. NSSDC Master Catalog. 2009-08-28.
  2. Web site: Progress-M 1 - 13, 15 - 37, 39 - 67 (11F615A55, 7KTGM). Gunter. Krebs. Gunter's Space Page. 2009-08-28.
  3. Web site: Launch Log. McDowell. Jonathan. Jonathan's Space Page. 2009-08-28.
  4. Web site: Mir EO-8. Wade. Mark. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2009-08-28. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121005133419/http://astronautix.com/flights/mireo8.htm. 2012-10-05.
  5. Web site: Progress M. Wade. Mark. Encyclopedia Astronautica. 2009-08-28. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090710175743/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proressm.htm. 2009-07-10.
  6. Web site: Cargo spacecraft "Progress M-7". Alexander. Anikeev. Manned Astronautics - Figures & Facts. 2009-08-28. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20071009101432/http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/cargoes/prm7.sht. 2007-10-09.
  7. Web site: Satellite Catalog. McDowell. Jonathan. Jonathan's Space Page. 2009-08-28.