Progress M-7

Progress M-7
Mission type Mir resupply
COSPAR ID 1991-020A
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Progress-M 11F615A55
Manufacturer NPO Energia
Launch mass 7,250 kilograms (15,980 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 19 March 1991, 13:05:15 UTC
Rocket Soyuz-U2
Launch site Baikonur Site 1/5
End of mission
Disposal Deorbited
Decay date 7 May 1991
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 365 kilometres (227 mi)[1]
Apogee 388 kilometres (241 mi)[1]
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Docking with Mir
Docking port Core Forward
Docking date 28 March 1991, 12:02:28 UTC
Undocking date 6 May 1991, 22:59:36 UTC
Time docked 39 days

Progress M-7 was a Soviet unmanned cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1991 to resupply the Mir space station.[2] The twenty-fifth of sixty four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration,[3] and had the serial number 208.[4] It carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-8 crew aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres. It also carried the second VBK-Raduga capsule, intended to return equipment and experiment results to Earth.

Progress M-7 was launched at 13:05:15 GMT on 19 March 1991, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.[4] It took three attempts to dock with Mir; the first of which occurred at 14:28 GMT on 21 March, and resulted in Progress M-7 approaching to within 500 metres (1,600 ft) of Mir, before the attempt was aborted. During a second attempt on 23 March, approach was aborted when the spacecraft was 50 metres (160 ft) from Mir, however it passed within 5 metres (16 ft) before moving away to a holding position whilst the problem was investigated.[5] The first two attempts had used the aft docking port of the Kvant-1 module, however it was decided to use the forward port of the core module for the next one. At 10:12:00 GMT on 26 March, the Soyuz TM-11 spacecraft which had been occupying this port undocked from it, before flying around the station and docking with Kvant-1 at 10:58:59.[6] Progress M-7 successfully docked with Mir at 12:02:28 GMT on 28 March.[5][6]

During the 39 days for which Progress M-7 was docked, Mir was in an orbit of around 365 by 388 kilometres (197 by 210 nmi), inclined at 51.6 degrees.[1] Progress M-7 undocked from Mir at 22:59:36 GMT on 6 May, and was deorbited at 16:24:00 the next day, to a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.[1][6] Its Raduga capsule, which had been deployed following the deorbit burn, came down in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic at around 17:20 GMT, however efforts to recover it were unsuccessful.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  2. ↑ "Progress M-7". NSSDC Master Catalog. US National Space Science Data Center. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  3. ↑ Krebs, Gunter. "Progress-M 1 - 13, 15 - 37, 39 - 67 (11F615A55, 7KTGM)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wade, Mark. "Mir EO-8". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Anikeev, Alexander. "Cargo spacecraft "Progress M-7"". Manned Astronautics - Figures & Facts. Retrieved 2009-08-28.