News

The Progress MC cargo vehicle of a new series has been mated with the transfer compartment at the Baikonur Cosmodrome

December 14, 2015

Today on December 14 the RSC Energia specialists successfully completed technological operations to mate the first cargo transport vehicle (CTV) Progress MC of a new series with the transfer compartment.

The vehicle pre-launch processing under the International Space Station (ISS) is provided at spacecraft assembly & testing facilities (SC ATF) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

According to the preparatory operations schedule the following is planned for the next week: designer's supervision, spacecraft encapsulation and transportation of the upper stage with the Progress-MC CTV from SC ATF to launch vehicle assembly & testing facilities (LV ATF) for general assembly with the Soyuz 2.1 launch vehicle.

The launch of the Soyuz-2.1 launch vehicle with the Progress MC CTV is scheduled on December 21 from site No.31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will be the first launch of the transport vehicle of new series MC.

The cargo vehicle will deliver about 2.5 t of cargo including 'dry' cargo, propellant, water and compressed oxygen to the ISS.

Transport vehicles of new modification such as Progress MC and Soyuz MC have been developed as a result of the great modernization of the Progress-M and Soyuz-TMA vehicles.

The majority of technical decisions inherent in the Soyuz MC and Progress MC structure will be used when creating a new generation manned transport vehicle (MTV) which is developed by RSC Energia.

 

OAO RSC Energia is a leading enterprise of rocket-space industry, the prime organization for manned space systems. The Corporation is working to develop unmanned space and rocket systems (launch ve-hicles and inter-orbital transfer), high-tech systems for various applications to be used in non-space fields. Since August 2014 the Corporation is headed by Vladimir Solntsev.