A little while ago the Progress MS-1 spaceship docked with the International Space Station in the mission also referred to as Progress 62. The Russian space freighter, which blasted off last Monday, carries food, water, scientific experiments, propellant and various hardware. It’s an important success for the new version of the Progress spacecraft.

The Progress MS-1 spacecraft is equipped with the latest version of the automatic docking system called Kurs NA, developed since the time of the USSR. It allows the spacecraft and the International Space Station to calculate at any moment of the maneuver to calculate their relative position, alignment and speed of approach.

Thanks to this system, the Russian spacecraft directly dock with the Station instead of being captured by the robotic arm to complete the last phase of the maneuver. In case of emergency, the Station crew can take manual control of the spacecraft using another system called TORU.

Last week the Soyuz TMA-19M brought three new crew members to the International Space Station but the docking was done manually due to some problems in the automatic system. The event sparked much discussion because the maneuver was carried out with limited visibility by the pilot Yuri Malenchenko. This showed that there’s still room to improve these systems and increase safety.

The Progress MS-1 cargo spacecraft regularly docked with the Russian Pirs module of the International Space Station. Tomorrow the crew will proceed with the opening of the hatch and the procedures to make the Progress MS-1 an appendix of the Station. At that point, they’ll begin the unloading operations, which should go on for the entire week.

The mission of the Progress MS-1 spacecraft is substantially completed. In fact, it can’t return to Earth so it will be filled with hardware that failed or otherwise has become unusable and assorted junk and will disintegrate returning into the atmosphere. This mission epilogue will happen in more than six months but the precise date depends on many factors.

The launches of space cargo ships are always important to resupply the International Space Station but the Progress MS-1 mission was also used to test new on board systems. The Progress cargo freighters are used for these tests and when Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, believes that they’re reliable, they’re also installed on the Soyuz spacecraft used for crew transport.

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