September 17, 2001, Korolev, Moscow Area.
Following a two-day free flight in near-earth orbit to
the International Space Station (ISS), proximity maneuvers,
fly-about, stationkeeping and approach, the Russian logistics
vehicle-module Progress M-CO1 successfully docked to the
ISS having delivered a new Russian module, Docking Compartment
Pirs to the Station.
A contact to the nadir port of the Russian Service Module
Zvezda occurred at 05:05 Moscow time, when the Space Station
was in the Russian ground site coverage.
The approach to the Space Station, its fly-about, stationkeeping,
berthing and docking were performed in the automatic mode
under control of the Lead Operational Control Team (LOCT)
of the Mission Control Center in Moscow (MCC-M) and the
ISS-3 crew.
The cargo delivered by the vehicle of an overall mass of
about 800 kg incorporated such cargoes as flight equipment
of Docking Compartment Pirs of about 290 kg (cargo boom,
external worksite, portable universal container); science
and utilization hardware of about 65 kg including hardware
for performance of space experiments and research Plasma
Crystal - 3, GTS, as well as Andromeda program (to support
the Russian-French flight to be performed in October during
the ISS visiting crew mission), egress equipment of about
285 kg including spacesuit Orlan-M, life support system
equipment of about 130 kg, flight data files.
The Expedition crew consisting of F. Culbertson (ISS-3 Commander),
V. Dezhurov (ISS-3 Pilot and Soyuz TM Commander) and M.
Tyurin (RSC Energia testing cosmonaut, ISS-3 Flight engineer)
will have to unload and accommodate the delivered cargoes
on-board the Station, as well as conduct necessary operations
to prepare the Docking Compartment for operation as part
of the ISS.
During the vehicle approach and docking to the ISS the MCC-M
was attended by Yu.P. Semenov, Technical Manager of Russian
Manned Space Programs, General Designer of S.P. Korolev
RSC Energia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
specialists from RSC Energia and allied space organizations.
The ISS of about 140.5 tons currently operates consisting
of space vehicles Progress M-45, Soyuz-TM-32, Progress M-CO1,
Russian Service Module Zvezda, Functional Cargo Module Zarya,
U.S. modules Unity and Destiny. The Station onboard systems
operate in a design mode.
The ISS flight control is provided by MCC-M LOCT (Korolev,
Moscow area) in interaction with the U.S. Mission Control
Center in Houston (MCC-H).
According to LOCT specialists data the ISS flies in orbit
with the following parameters: inclination 51.6°, maximum
and minimum altitudes 413.5 and 387.9 km respectively, period
of revolution of 92.3 min.
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