May 15, 2008, Baikonur launch site, branch office of S.P.Korolev RSC Energia
According to the flight program and Russian Party commitments under the International Space Station Project (ISS), Progress M-64 transport cargo vehicle was launched from Baikonur launch site at 00:22:56 Moscow time.
The launch is aimed at delivering more than 2.3 tons of various cargo items to the ISS, which are required to continue station manned operation and support crew living and working conditions for the crew. Oxygen, water and food supplies, propellant, spacesuit Sokol KV-2, consumables, scientific hardware and equipment were flown from the earth to orbit.
The vehicle was injected into a reference near-earth orbit with the following parameters: inclination of 51.65°, minimum altitude of 193.9 km, maximum altitude of 245.9 km, revolution of 88.57 min.
The vehicle onboard systems operate as designed.
The vehicle processing and launch were conducted under direction of the State Commission (chaired by A.N. Perminov, Director of Roscosmos). The Commission made decisions on implementing the processing and launch stages based on conclusions of the Technical Management led by V.A. Lopota, President of S.P.Korolev RSC Energia, General Designer.
According to the telemetry information and reports of the ISS Increment 17 crew, the station onboard systems operate as designed. The station is ready for vehicle docking.
The vehicle docking is planned on May 17, 2008 at 01:37:30 Moscow time.
For reference:
1. The crew consisting of Sergey Volkov (test cosmonaut, Yu.A. Gagarin CTC RGNII, crew commander), Oleg Kononenko (test cosmonaut, S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, flight engineer 1) and Garrett Reisman (NASA astronaut, flight engineer 2) work onboard the ISS.
2. S.P. Korolev RSC Energia is a leading Russian rocket and space industrial enterprise in the area of manned space flight programs, responsible for development, integration and operation of the ISS Russian Segment, including development and operation of the main Russian modules (Zvezda, Pirs and others), manufacturing, launch and operation of Soyuz TMA, Progress M vehicles.
3. Progress M-64 is the 29th Russian cargo vehicle, which was launched to the ISS within this project.
4. Planned plant tests of Progress M-65 and the first modified Progress vehicle are currently conducted at S.P. Korolev RSC Energia. These vehicles are to be launched to the ISS this year.
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