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<\/p>\nThe Russian Federation\u2019s state-owned space corporation, Roscosmos, has launched their latest resupply mission to the International Space Station. The supply craft, Progress MS-15, lifted off at 14:26:22 UTC, or 10:26:22 EDT, on Thursday, 23 July from Site No. 31\/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n
The craft arrived and docked to the Station via its KURS-NA automated docking system. However, a software issue created several tense moments and concern as Progress was off course and deviating from the flight plan while Russian controllers and crew did not hit the abort button to send the craft away from the Station.<\/p>\n
The Progress MS-15 spacecraft will resupply the Expedition 63 crew with supplies and consumables as well as deliver new equipment to help trace the source of elevated benzene levels in the Station\u2019s air.<\/p>\n
The real-time air quality monitoring equipment launching on Progress MS-15 will \u201ccontinue work to isolate the source causing higher than normal benzene levels in the Station\u2019s atmosphere,\u201d said a NASA spokesperson. \u201cAdditional air filtering is already in place, and all detected levels have remained well below the threshold for any impact to crew.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional items on board include shoes for one NASA crew member, KTOs (solid waste containers for toilets), EDVs (urine containers), one pretreat tank for the water recycling and potable water for the Russian segment of the Station, and two months worth of food.<\/p>\n
Prior to the arrival of Progress MS-15, the Station has enough consumables\/commodities to support a full crew compliment of six until the first quarter of 2021 \u2014 with food being the limiting commodity. All consumables other than food are stocked to last (including reserves) until \u201cat least the first half of 2021 if not farther,\u201d noted NASA.<\/p>\n
Getting Soyuz and Progress ready for launch<\/p>\n
In April 2020, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket segments designated for the mission were offloaded from railway cars after arriving at Baikonur. The Blok-A first stage arrived in two pieces (as usual), the liquid oxygen section along with the RP-1 kerosene tank and RD-108A engine.<\/p>\n
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The RP-1 Kerosene tank and RD-108A engine section of the Soyuz 2.1a\u2019s Blok-A first stage arrives at the launch site. (Credit: Roscosmos)<\/p>\n
The Soyuz 2.1a rocket for the mission is \u042f15000-040 (Ya15000-040).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at the assembly and testing complex, engineers from RSC Energia began powering up Progress MS-15 to prepare it for electrical, solar panel, and squid circuit checkouts to record the overall health of the craft.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The spacecraft then underwent testing inside the anechoic chamber until 23 June. The chamber\u2019s radar absorbing walls simulate the environment in space. During the test, the Kurs-NA system was tested.<\/p>\n
Kurs-NA is the updated version of the Kurs navigation system that was originally developed in the 1980s to replace the Igla system which was mainly used on the Salyut stations. Soyuz TM-2 was the first spacecraft to use the Kurs system when cosmonauts Yuri Romanenko and Aleksandr Laveykin arrived at the Mir space station in 1987 for Mir EO-2.<\/p>\n
On 30 June, RSC Energia announced that Progress MS-15 had completed leak tests at the vacuum chamber located at site 254. Such vacuum tests are standard for both Progress and Soyuz spacecraft prior to launch vehicle integration.<\/p>\n
In early July, the two sections of the Blok-A core stage on the Soyuz 2.1a rocket were bolted together and integrated.<\/p>\n
On 6 July, Progress MS-15\u2019s solar panels were once again tested, this time functionally, by shining powerful lights on them in the deployed position to validate their ability to generate electricity.<\/p>\n