Progress MS-08 (), identified by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

as Progress 69P, was a

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 ...

spaceflight, operated by

Roscosmos The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

to resupply the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS).

History

The

Progress-MS The Progress (russian: Прогресс) is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Its purpose is to deliver the supplies needed to sustain a human presence in orbit. While it does not carry a crew, it can be boarded by astronauts when docked t ...

is an uncrewed freighter based on 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 ...

featuring improved avionics. This improved variant first launched on 21 December 2015. It has the following improvements: * New external compartment that enables it to deploy satellites. Each compartment can hold up to four launch containers. First time installed on

Progress MS-03 Progress MS-03 (), identified by NASA as Progress 64P, was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was the first Progress MS to have an external compartment for releasing satellites. ...

. * Enhanced redundancy thanks to the addition of a backup system of electrical motors for the docking and sealing mechanism. * Improved

Micrometeoroid A micrometeoroid is a tiny meteoroid: a small particle of rock in space, usually weighing less than a gram. A micrometeorite is such a particle that survives passage through Earth's atmosphere and reaches Earth's surface. The term "micrometeoroid ...

(MMOD) protection with additional panels in the cargo compartment. * Luch Russian relay satellites link capabilities enable telemetry and control even when not in direct view of ground radio stations. *

GNSS A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pre ...

autonomous navigation enables real time determination of the status vector and orbital parameters dispensing with the need of ground station orbit determination. * Real time relative navigation thanks to direct radio data exchange capabilities with the space station. * New digital radio that enables enhanced TV camera view for the docking operations. * The

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Chezara Kvant-V on board radio system and antenna/feeder system has been replaced with a Unified Command Telemetry System (UCTS). * Replacement of the Kurs A with Kurs NA digital system.

Launch

Progress MS-08 launched on 13 February 2018 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 ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

atop a

Soyuz-2.1a Soyuz-2 ( GRAU index 14A14) is a modernized version of the Soviet Soyuz rocket. In its basic form, it is a three-stage launch vehicle for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. Compared to the previous versions of the Soyuz, the first-stag ...

rocket, at 08:13:33 UTC.

Docking

Progress MS-08 docked on 15 February 2018 with the aft docking port of the Zvezda module, at 10:38 UTC.

Cargo

The Progress MS-08 spacecraft delivered 2,494 kg of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station. The following is a breakdown of cargo bound for the ISS: * Dry cargo: 1,390 kg * Fuel: 890 kg * Oxygen and Air: 46 kg * Water: 430 kg Progress MS-08 also includes two nanosatellites: Tanyusha YuZGU-3 (1998-067PJ) and Tanyusha YuZGU-4 (1998-067PK) (a.k.a. Radioskaf RS-8 and Radioskaf RS-9) with a mass of 2.5 kg, which was developed jointly by

RKK Energia PAO S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (russian: Ракетно-космическая корпорация «Энергия» им. С. П. Королёва, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya "Energiya" im. S. P. Korolyov ...

and students at the South-Western State University, YuZGU, in the city of

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

. The satellites will be launched by spacewalking cosmonauts.

Undocking and decay

Undocking on 23 August 2018, at 02:16 UTC. And decay in the atmosphere and its debris entered 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 ...

, on 30 August 2018.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2018 Progress (spacecraft) missions Spacecraft launched in 2018 2018 in Russia Supply vehicles for the International Space Station Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-2 rockets Spacecraft which reentered in 2018