Russia launches Progress to ISS
Using its Soyuz-2 rocket, Roscosmos successfully launched and docked a Progress freighter to ISS, bringing with it three tons of cargo.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
22 SpaceX
17 China
8 Russia
3 Rocket Lab
3 ULA
The U.S still leads China 31 to 22 in the national rankings, as well as leading the entire world combined 31 to 28.
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Using its Soyuz-2 rocket, Roscosmos successfully launched and docked a Progress freighter to ISS, bringing with it three tons of cargo.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
22 SpaceX
17 China
8 Russia
3 Rocket Lab
3 ULA
The U.S still leads China 31 to 22 in the national rankings, as well as leading the entire world combined 31 to 28.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Interesting Chinese activity for the next two weeks. Shenzhou-14 will launch on June 5th at 0244UTC and Galactic Energy with their CERES-1 on June 17th.
That Galactic Energy launch is the one I would like to watch. Their rocket looks like the Rocket Labs Electron. Also, Galactic Energy is saying that their engine is 3-D printed. Some of the future rockets they are showing on their website look a lot like the Falcon-9 and Falcon Heavy with their colors.
So we all know that all these so-called companies are just PLA fronts, but this is the first I have heard of “Galactic Energy”. I know from the article here from last May about LinkSpace working on a reusable first stage. Are these pseudo companies each given a task to build a component of the rocket and raise funds as well? Kind of like the design bureaus of the old Soviet Union minus the fund raising.
Jay asked, “Are these pseudo companies each given a task to build a component of the rocket and raise funds as well? Kind of like the design bureaus of the old Soviet Union minus the fund raising.”
That is exactly what is happening. And should the Chinese military or government change its mind, goodbye company.
“.. 3 tons of cargo …”
That does not sound like a lot. Would that cargo be mostly water and food?
Steve,
Progress is based off the Soyuz spacecraft, that is why they look closely alike. Soyuz is composed of three modules: a propulsion module, a descent module, and an orbital module. The Progress does not have a descent module, it has a larger propulsion module that looks like the propulsion and descent modules. That space where the descent module would be is additional fuel for the engine, oxygen and nitrogen for the station.
Progress is used to boost the orbit of the ISS and that is why they need those additional tanks of fuel. As for the cargo, that is stored in the orbital module. This is where food, water and spare parts for the station are carried. It is a lot to store in a small space. On average a Progress is launched up to the ISS every three months. When it is done, they fill it with garbage, disconnect it, and let it burn up in the atmosphere.
The Progress spacecraft is not that big. I got a good look of the Soyuz TMA-14 descent module at the Museum of Flight south of Seattle and it is small. It is amazing that they can fit three astronauts/cosmonauts with suits on into a volume that is smaller than a Geo Metro.
Steve Richter,
The article gives a breakdown of the cargo.
Hardware for onboard systems: 433 kilograms
Means of medical support: 30 kilograms
Personal protection equipment: 125 kilograms
Sanitary and hygiene equipment: 293 kilograms
Means of servicing and repair: 55 kilograms
Complex of means for the crew support: 63 kilograms
Food: 285 kilograms
Payload complex: 76 kilograms
Additional hardware: 93 kilograms
In addition:
Where the “Rodnik system” seems to be part of the life support system, providing the crew with potable water, a backup on-orbit reserve of water in the event of failure of the recycle system.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20100014813/downloads/20100014813.pdf
This water seems to have a one-year shelf life.
For the past few years, much of the water consumed aboard the ISS has been recycled, allowing for reduced amounts of water to be shipped to the station.
To Jay
There are even plastic rocket nozzles:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a26329/mit-plastic-rocket-nozzle/
Thanks Jeff! That is very cool.
I see 3D printing in the future as a manufacturing standard and will be essential on all spaceflights. Need a part? Don’t wait for the next Cygnus, or Dragon, or Progress cargo run, just make it now!
The Shenzhou craft looks more impressive than the Soyuz/Progress craft it was based on
https://mobile.twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1533281732203618304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1533281732203618304%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2022%2F06%2F04%2Fshenzhou-14-launch-mission-status-center%2F
More on Progress:
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/progress.html
Some had the Raduga return sub capsule
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vbk-raduga.htm