Progress M-06M (russian: Прогресс М-06М, italic=yes), 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 38P, is a Russian

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 which was launched in June 2010 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 ...

. It was the 38th Progress to dock with the space station and the third of year 2010.

Launch

The Soyuz-U rocket used to launch the Progress M-06M spacecraft was delivered to 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 early March 2010. The rocket was manufactured by

TsSKB-Progress The Progress Rocket Space Centre (russian: Ракетно-космический центр «Прогресс»), formerly known as TsSKB-Progress (russian: ЦСКБ-Прогресс), is a Russian joint-stock company under the jurisdiction ...

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

. The Progress was launched successfully on 30 June 2010 at 15:35:00 UTC. The cargo ship was loaded with of propellant, of oxygen and air, of water and of equipment, spare parts and experiment hardware. The spacecraft reached a preliminary orbit of . A series of precise engine firings over two days guided the craft towards a docking with the International Space Station's aft Zvezda port originally scheduled for 2 July.

First docking

While approaching the ISS on 2 July 2010, the spacecraft aborted the docking procedure after a critical communications error. The spacecraft bypassed the station at a safe distance. According to the official statement of the Moscow mission control, the approach to the ISS went normally until the distance of around when the ship's KURS automated rendezvous system issued a command prohibiting further "dynamic operations". The telemetry between the spacecraft and the ISS was lost about 25 minutes before planned docking. According to NASA, the most likely cause of the aborted docking was traced to the activation of the TORU "Klest" TV transmitter, which created interference with TORU manual rendezvous system, causing a loss of the TORU command link between spacecraft and the ISS that triggered the abort of the Progress docking. The Russian flight control team later confirmed that the

KURS KURS (1040 kHz) is an AM radio station broadcasting a Spanish-language Catholic radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian m ...

system operated normally during the aborted docking attempt and did not fail, as was initially believed. A

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 ...

accident commission completed an investigation into the docking failure and concluded that a "dynamical mode abort" command in the spacecraft's backup manual approach control loop had caused the anomaly. The command was generated because of interference in the TORU metric wave signal link and pressed button "Operation" on the TORU panel in the space station's Zvezda module.

Docking

Shortly after the abort, the situation was evaluated and a second attempt at docking on 4 July 2010 was planned and subsequently succeeded. Flying on autopilot using the KURS automated system, the spacecraft docked to the aft docking port of Zvezda. The

Expedition 24 Expedition 24 was the 24th long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Expedition 24 initially had two planned spacewalks, one Russian and one American Extra-vehicular Activity (EVA). The U.S. EVA was re-planned and a second ...

crew members monitored the arrival of the spacecraft and as a precautionary measure TORU was not activated for the second attempt. The docking occurred over four-corner border of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

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 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. Hooks and latches were engaged a few minutes later and the crew members entered the Progress around 19:30 UTC.

ISS reboost

An ISS reboost assisted by the attitude thrusters of Progress M-06M was initiated on 16 July 2010 to improve conditions for the landing of

Soyuz TMA-18 Soyuz TMA-18 was a 2010 Soyuz flight to the International Space Station (ISS). TMA-18 was the 105th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since the first crewed flight in 1967. Crew Backup crew Launch After a successful launch on 2 Ap ...

and the docking of Progress M-07M. Following the commands from the space station Russian Segment Central Computer, the engines of the Progress M-06M spacecraft were started at 06:42:30 UTC. The operation lasted 1065 seconds raised the orbit of the space station by 3.7 km to 355.2 km.

Undocking and deorbit

The Progress M-06M spacecraft loaded with trash and other items for disposal, undocked from the International Space Station at 11:25 UTC on 31 August 2010. This was slightly behind schedule: the command for the spacecraft to undock was intended to have been issued from the ISS at 11:19 UTC, resulting in undocking three minutes later. Following undocking, Progress M-06M remained in orbit to conduct an experiment designation ''Radar-Progress''. It was deorbited over the Pacific Ocean on 6 September 2010, with debris falling into an area known as the

spacecraft cemetery The spacecraft cemetery, known more formally as the South Pacific Ocean(ic) Uninhabited Area, is a region in the southern Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand, where spacecraft that have reached the end of their usefulness are routinely crashed. Th ...

. The retroburn was initiated at 16:13:50 Moscow time and the remaining parts of the Progress, which had not burnt during the reentry, fell down in the area of 42°07' South, 138°25' West at about 16:53 Moscow time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Progress M-06m Progress (spacecraft) missions Spacecraft launched in 2010 Spacecraft which reentered in 2010 Supply vehicles for the International Space Station Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets