[FPSPACE] Progress M-1 leaving ISS

[Bart Hendrickx]

David Anderman wrote :


>Progress M1 is leaving ISS to allow Soyuz to dock with the Service Module.
>How will future Progress vehicles dock with ISS assuming that a Soyuz will
>be attached to the SM for a while? Will they dock with the SM or FGB nadir
>ports? Are the necessary hybrid docking adaptors available for Progress? If
>so, how could MirCorp possibly hope to re-direct any of those
>hybrid-equipped Progresses to fly to Mir?

The next Progress, set for mid-November, will dock with the FGB nadir port.
The FGB nadir port is a traditional Mir-type "active-passive" docking system
(SSVP as the Russians call it), just like the aft port of Zvezda. So I
suppose that any Progress designed to fly to those two ports is
interchangeable with Mir. The only hybrid ports (SSVP-M in Russian short)
are the aft port of Zarya and the front, zenith and nadir ports of Zvezda.
Zvezda's zenith port will only be used for the Russian power platform and
the nadir port is to receive the Docking Module and later on the Universal
Docking Module. The Docking Module will be delivered by a detachable
Soyuz/Progress service module, which, once jettisoned, will open up an aft
docking port for Soyuz/Progress, which I think is also of the traditional
SSVP type. Since it will be a while before any permanent modules are
attached to the Zarya nadir port, this can continue to be used for Progress
dockings for the foreseeable future.

>WIll NASA really let RSA experiment with hybrid-equipped Progresses
attempting to dock with a nadir
>port at ISS?


The launch of Progress M1-4 was originally set for September, inbetween
STS-106 and STS-92. I understand it was delayed to November to make sure
that the Expedition One crew was on board to take over the docking operation
with TORU in case of problems.

Bart Hendrickx