Progress 20 () was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

uncrewed

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

cargo spacecraft, which was launched in April 1984 to resupply the

Salyut 7 Salyut 7 (russian: Салют-7; en, Salute 7) (a.k.a. DOS-6, short for Durable Orbital Station) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last vi ...

space station.

Spacecraft

Progress 20 was a Progress 7K-TG spacecraft. The 20th of forty three to be launched, it had the

serial number A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it. Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...

121. The Progress 7K-TG spacecraft was the first generation

, derived from the

Soyuz 7K-T The second generation of the Soyuz spacecraft, the ''Soyuz 7K-T'', comprised Soyuz 12 through Soyuz 40 (1973-1981). In the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy, the spacecraft was redesigned to accommodate two cosmonauts who would wear pressure suit ...

and intended for uncrewed logistics missions to space stations in support of the

Salyut programme The ''Salyut'' programme (russian: Салют, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed m ...

. On some missions the spacecraft were also used to adjust the orbit of the space station. The Progress spacecraft had a dry mass of , which increased to around when fully fuelled. It measured in length, and in diameter. Each spacecraft could accommodate up to of payload, consisting of dry cargo and propellant. The spacecraft were powered by chemical batteries, and could operate in free flight for up to three days, remaining docked to the station for up to thirty.

Launch

Progress 20 launched on 15 April 1984 from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

in the

Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

. It used a

Soyuz-U2 The Soyuz-U2 (GRAU index 11A511U2) was a Soviet Union, Soviet, later Russian, carrier rocket. It was derived from the Soyuz-U, and a member of the R-7 (rocket family), R-7 family of rockets. It featured increased performance compared with the b ...

rocket.

Docking

Progress 20 docked with the aft port of Salyut 7 on 17 April 1984 at 09:22 UTC, and was undocked on 6 May 1984 at 17:46 UTC.

Decay

It remained in orbit until 7 May 1984, when it was deorbited. The deorbit burn occurred at 00:32:51 UTC, with the mission ending at around 01:15 UTC.

References

Progress (spacecraft) missions 1984 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1984 Spacecraft which reentered in 1984 Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets {{USSR-spacecraft-stub

Spacecraft

Launch

Docking

Decay

See also

References