posted 02-02-2010 10:44 PM               

ISS Progress 36 launches to Space Station

The Progress M-04M (36P) spacecraft launched at 10:45 p.m. EST Tuesday (9:45 a.m. Wednesday, Baikonur time), loaded with 1,940 pounds of propellant, 106 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 2,683 pounds of spare parts and supplies.

Credit: Roscosmos

On Thursday, Feb. 4, shortly before 11:30 p.m., Progress M-04M will dock automatically to the aft port of the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station using the Kurs docking system.

Aboard the station Tuesday, flight engineers Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov checked out TORU, the Russian telerobotic rendezvous system, which the crew can use to monitor the Progress docking or take control of the process in the unlikely event that difficulties arise with the automated Kurs system.

posted 02-04-2010 11:07 PM               

Progress 36 docks to station

Progress M-04M (36P) unpiloted spacecraft docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station at 11:26 p.m. EST Thursday using the automated Kurs docking system. The new resupply ship brings to the orbiting laboratory 1,940 pounds of propellant, 106 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water and 2,683 pounds of spare parts and supplies for the Expedition 22 crew.

Credit: NASA TV

ISS Expedition 22 flight engineers Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov monitored the approach of the Progress from Zvezda, along with their crewmates, station commander Jeff Williams and flight engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer.

The latest Progress joins the M-03M resupply ship and two Russian Soyuz spacecraft at the station. The Soyuz spacecraft are serving as return vehicles for the five Expedition 22 crew members on the orbiting laboratory.

Once the cargo is unloaded from it, M-04M will be filled with trash and station discards. It is scheduled to undock from the station in May, and like its predecessors, deorbited to break apart and disintegrate in Earth's atmosphere.

posted 05-13-2010 02:40 AM               

Progress M-04M successfully undocked from the International space station (ISS) on May 10.

A departure command was issued from the ISS at 14:13 MSK (10:13 UT). Three minutes later, the Progress separated from the docking port on the Zvezda module. The vehicle had been attached to this port since February 3.

After separation, the Progress will continue flying autonomously for about 1.5 months. Prior to the Progress deorbiting, a series of geophysical experiments is to be carried out.

posted 06-28-2010 06:37 PM               

On June 27, during my second Progress pass of the night and also my most favorable pass of the M-04M, I took this while it flew overhead. Not only you can see the solar panels under a certain angle but also clearly some of the Antenna and other detail of the Progress.

It's my best image of a small spacecraft to date.

posted 07-02-2010 02:40 AM               

The Progress M-04M cargo spacecraft completed its flight on July 1. The spacecraft's main engine was ignited at 17:54 Moscow Time, in accordance with a program rooted in the onboard computer and following a command from the Mission Control Center.

Progress M-04M re-entered from orbit, with any remaining fragments falling in a given area of the Pacific Ocean at 18:40 Moscow Time.