NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Progress M-16M

Launch Time
Wed Aug 01, 2012 19:35 UTC

Rocket

Soyuz U
Roscosmos
Status: Retired
Price: $20.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 4,456 kN
Payload to LEO: 6,860 kg
Payload to GTO: 0 kg
Stages: 3
Strap-ons: 4
Rocket Height: 51.32 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.0 m
Fairing Height: 15.59 m

Mission Details

Progress M-16M

Progress M-16M is a Soviet/Russian Progress cargo vehicle which docked to the ISS. It's the 139th Progress flight.

Progress was the first cargo spacecraft to fly in space, and the first to bring freight back to Earth, thanks to a Raduga capsule.

It's a cargo ship developed to supply the Salyut 6 space station and which was subsequently used successively to supply the crews staying on board the Salyut 7, Mir and from the International Space Station. It made its first flight in 1978 and was the first vessel of this type: it enabled the crews to stay in space by bringing consumables (food, water, fuel, oxygen) and spare parts. In 2018, it was used with other cargo vessels to supply the permanent crew of the International Space Station.

The Progress spacecraft is largely derived from the Soyuz spacecraft intended for the transport of crews in low orbit. It is launched by a Soyuz rocket lifting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome. It has a mass of around 7 tonnes for a length of 7.9 meters and its carrying capacity is around 2.5 tonnes. It can transport both pressurized freight and gases, propellants and liquids but is not designed to bring freight back to Earth. Like the Soyuz spacecraft, it is equipped with a Kours automatic docking system. Several variants of the Progress spacecraft have been developed over the decades with increasing capabilities.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 7,287.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

Site 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

2012

44th orbital launch attempt

Soyuz U

844th mission
4th mission of 2012
821st successful mission
5th consecutive successful mission