Progress M-21M (russian: Прогресс М-21М, 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 53P, 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 ...

spacecraft used by

Roskosmos 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) during 2013.Progress M-21M launched to ISS
/ref> Progress M-21M was built 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 ...

Launch

The spacecraft was launched on time at 20:53:06 UTC on 25 November 2013 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 ...

Docking

The

Kurs-NA Kurs (Ukrainian and russian: Курс, lit=Course) is a radio control system (type tomahook, etc.) used by the Soviet and later Russian space program. "Kurs" was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments (russian: НИИ То ...

docking system was tested by Progress M-21M during a fly-by of the ISS on 28 November 2013. Progress M-21M later docked with the ISS on 29 November 2013 at 22:30:20 UTC.

Cargo

Progress M-21M delivers goods to the ISS, as fuel components, water, service equipment, equipment for scientific experiments, containers with food, and parcels for the crew. The total mass of all delivered goods is 2398 pounds.

Orbit change

On 13 March 2014, Progress M-21M was used to raise the orbit of the ISS by "two kilometers" after an engine burn of "almost ten minutes".

Kurs-NA docking system re-test

Due to problems with the

docking system during the last test in November 2013, another test with the system was successfully done during a two-day free flying period in April 2014. Progress M-21M undocked from the Zvezda module at 08:58 UTC on 23 April 2014 and was guided back to the same docking port two days later, docking at 12:13 UTC on 25 April 2014.

Undocking and reentry

Progress M-21M undocked from the ISS on 9 June 2014 at 13:29 UTC and was deorbited the same day at 17:23 UTC.

References

Progress (spacecraft) missions Spacecraft launched in 2013 Spacecraft which reentered in 2014 2013 in Russia Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-U rockets Supply vehicles for the International Space Station {{Russia-spacecraft-stub