Engineering:Progress M-16M

Progress M-16M

Progress M-16M atop Hurricane Leslie, on 9 September 2012.
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	Roskosmos
COSPAR ID	2012-042A
SATCAT no.	38738
Mission duration	192 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Progress-M s/n 416
Manufacturer	RKK Energia
Launch mass	6950 kg
Start of mission
Launch date	1 August 2012, 19:35:13 UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U
Launch site	Baikonur, Site 1/5
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	9 February 2013, 17:05 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	193.0 km
Apogee altitude	245.0 km
Inclination	51.66°
Period	88.58 minutes
Epoch	1 August 2012
Docking with ISS
Docking port	Pirs
Docking date	2 August 2012, 01:24:39 UTC
Undocking date	9 February 2013, 13:16 UTC
Time docked	191 days
Cargo
Mass	2639 kg
Pressurised	1242 kg (dry cargo)
Fuel	680 kg
Gaseous	47 kg (oxygen and air)
Water	420 kg
Progress ISS Resupply

Progress M-16M (Russian: Прогресс М-16М), identified by NASA as Progress 48P, is a Progress spacecraft used by Roskosmos to resupply the International Space Station during 2012. The sixteenth Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft, it has the serial number 416 and was built by RKK Energia.

It was the 126th launch to the ISS and the fifteenth Russian space launch in 2012. It was also the seventh mission for the Soyuz family of rockets since the beginning of the year.

Launch

The spacecraft was launched on time at 19:35:13 UTC from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 1 August 2012. Ten minutes after liftoff, the Soyuz-U rocket carrying Progress M-16M successfully delivered the spacecraft to orbit to begin its International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission.

Docking

Progress M-16M debuted the use of a fast approach rendezvous profile that saw the spacecraft docking on its fourth orbit, as opposed to docking about 50 hours after launch on previous Progress flights. This profile allows the transportation of critical biological payloads to the ISS. After testing on Progress flights, the same rendezvous profile is being used on human Soyuz flights to reduce crew fatigue.

Hurricane Leslie (2012)

A photo of Hurricane Leslie, 5 September 2012, by the Aqua satellite.

Partially obstructed by two Russian spacecraft in the foreground, Tropical cyclone Leslie is clearly seen in the Atlantic Ocean on 9 September 2012, as photographed by one of the Expedition 32 crew members aboard the International Space Station. At the time of the photo, Leslie was centered near 33.4° North latitude and 62.1° West longitude (approximately 300 km east-northeast of Bermuda) moving northward at 25 km per hour with winds of 100 km per hour.

Undocking and decay

Progress M-16M departed the Pirs Docking Compartment at 13:15:27 UTC on 9 February 2013 performing a nominal undocking to begin a very short free flight.

Cargo

Progress M-16M was packed with 1242 kilograms of equipment, food, clothing, life support system gear (dry cargo), 680 kilograms of propellant to replenish reservoirs that feed the Russian maneuvering thrusters, 420 kilograms of water and 47 kilograms of oxygen and air.