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posted by chromas on Tuesday July 10 2018, @11:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-not-a-race dept.

Progress freighter completes fastest-ever trip to International Space Station

A Russian Progress resupply and refueling craft launched Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, riding a Soyuz booster into orbit on a perfectly-timed departure that set the stage for an on-target docking with the International Space Station less than four hours later.

[...] A series of thruster firings by the Progress spaceship began in the first hour of the mission, with a major rocket burn around 44 minutes after liftoff to begin adjusting its orbit to match the path of the space station. The freighter completed an automated radar-guided link-up with the station's Pirs docking compartment at 0131 GMT Tuesday (9:31 p.m. EDT Monday), less than four hours after blastoff from Kazakhstan, and around eight minutes ahead of schedule.

[...] The two-orbit rendezvous was made possible by timing the Soyuz rocket's launch to an instant just before the space station sailed over the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

At the time of liftoff, the space station was orbiting over a point around 370 miles (595 kilometers) southwest of Baikonur. By the time the Progress supply ship reached orbit, the station was orbiting around 1,004 miles (1,615 kilometers) ahead of the cargo craft. All missions to the space station lift off as Earth's rotation brings the launch pad under the orbiting lab's ground track, but the outpost is usually located over a different part of the planet, forcing the visiting cargo or crew capsule to close a greater distance before docking.

Also at NASASpaceFlight.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 10 2018, @12:24PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 10 2018, @12:24PM (#705017)

    One problem is that these Angara rockets were conceived and developed just before SpaceX rose to prominence and fulfilled the promise of lower-cost spaceflight. By comparison, the Angara rockets are expensive. The more bulky Angara 5 has a similar payload capacity to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, but its cost of about $100 million is considerably above Falcon 9's $62 million cost.

    this bald bastard has invented ecommerce, self driving car, electricity, and is slaying 12/10 puss
    what did you do with your day

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 10 2018, @12:27PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 10 2018, @12:27PM (#705018)

      fapped to musk pics

  • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday July 10 2018, @01:52PM

    by richtopia (3160) on Tuesday July 10 2018, @01:52PM (#705068) Homepage Journal

    I have done this type of launch all the time. You just need to select the object you want to rendezvous with before pressing the launch button:

    https://www.curseforge.com/kerbal/ksp-mods/mechjeb [curseforge.com]

    (Disclaimer: even with autopilot, the location of the Baikonur Cosmodrome and inclination of the ISS orbit does make the speedy trip a feat)

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 10 2018, @02:19PM (3 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 10 2018, @02:19PM (#705095) Journal

    You can have a FAST trip to the space station . . . if you are willing to WAIT for such an opportunity.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 10 2018, @02:55PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday July 10 2018, @02:55PM (#705125) Journal

      Missions are scheduled months in advance. You simply pick optimal dates.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 10 2018, @03:52PM (1 child)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 10 2018, @03:52PM (#705167) Journal

        In that case the short time from launch to ISS docking might not be so important. Except for an unusual cargo. Special snowflakes that are perishable in Zero G.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday July 10 2018, @04:34PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday July 10 2018, @04:34PM (#705193)

          Even without humans inside, there are still many people assigned to watch any spacecraft. They'll take the 4-hour shift over the 2-day one, it saves a few percent on the cost.

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