Progress M-2 (russian: Прогресс М-2, italic=yes), 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 cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1989 to resupply the

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space station. The nineteenth of sixty four

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 ...

spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the

Progress-M Progress-M (russian: Прогресс-М, GRAU indices 11F615A55 and 11F615A60), also known as Progress 7K-TGM, is a Russian, previously Soviet spacecraft which is used to resupply space stations. It is a variant of the Progress spacecraft, or ...

11F615A55 configuration, and 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 ...

202. It carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-5 crew aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres. Progress M-2 was launched at 03:30:50 GMT on 20 December 1989, atop 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 ...

carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at 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 ...

. It docked with the aft port of the ''

Kvant-1 Kvant-1 (russian: Квант-1; English: Quantum-I/1) (37KE) was the first module to be attached in 1987 to the Mir Core Module, which formed the core of the Soviet space station ''Mir''. It remained attached to ''Mir'' until the entire space stati ...

'' module of Mir at 05:41:21 GMT on 22 December. During the time it was docked, Mir was in an orbit of around . Progress M-2 remained docked with Mir for forty eight days before undocking at 02:33:07 GMT on 9 February 1990 to make way for the

Soyuz TM-9 Soyuz TM-9 was the ninth expedition to the Russian Space Station Mir.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM9.htm Crew Mission highlights During docking, cosmonauts aboard Mir noticed that thre ...

spacecraft, carrying the EO-6 crew to the station. Progress M-2 was deorbited at 07:07:00 GMT, a few hours after it had undocked. It burned up in the atmosphere over the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, with any remaining debris landing in the ocean at around 07:56 GMT.

References

1989 in the Soviet Union 1990 in spaceflight Progress (spacecraft) missions Spacecraft launched in 1989 {{USSR-spacecraft-stub

See also

References