Progress M-67

Progress M-67 was a Progress spacecraft which was used for the Progress 34 or 34P flight to resupply the International Space Station. It was a Progress-M 11F615A55 spacecraft, with the serial number 367. Its flight to the ISS marked the final flight of the Progress-M 11F615A55 model, which was retired in favour of the modernised Progress-M 11F615A60.

The spacecraft delivered 50 kg of oxygen, 210 kg of water, about 830 kg of propellant and more than 1,200 kg of dry cargo to the ISS.^[1]

It was successfully launched aboard a Soyuz-U carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:56:56 UTC on 24 July 2009. It was originally scheduled to dock with the ISS on 26 July, two days after launch, but following delays to the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-127, it was decided before launch to extend the free flight period to allow the Shuttle to remain docked for the full duration of its mission. Although the Shuttle and Progress spacecraft do not use the same docking port on the ISS, a Progress cannot dock or undock whilst a Shuttle is docked to the station. Following Endeavour's departure on 28 July, Progress M-67 docked to the aft docking port of the Zvezda module on 29 July at 11:12 UTC after five days of free flight. During rendezvous, the Progress approached the station in an incorrect orientation, before the automated Kurs system was deactivated, and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka took over using the manual TORU system.^[2]

Progress M-67 undocked from the ISS on 21 September 2009 at 07:25 UTC, in order to free up the aft docking port on Zvezda for the arrival of Soyuz TMA-16.

Progress M-67 was successfully deorbited and burned up upon on atmospheric reentry on 27 September 2009.

References