Russian Progress M-21M resupply ship to test new docking system
MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax-AVN) - The Progress M-21M resupply ship, which blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on November 26, will test the new Kurs-NA approach and docking system in the early hours of Thursday morning.
"The system will be tested from 00:45 a.m. until 2:27 a.m. on November 28," a source from the space industry told Interfax-AVN.
"The docking with the International Space Station (ISS) Zvezda service module is scheduled to take place at 2:28 a.m. Moscow time on November 30 during the 65th lap, which means that the resupply ship will have four days of autonomous flight," a Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) representative told Interfax earlier.
The four previous resupply ships used a shortcut and docked with the ISS within several hours of their takeoff from Baikonur.
The ship will assist in the ISS orbit's adjustment on December 4.
Progress M-21M will deliver two Earth-filming cameras manufactured by Canadian UrtheCast. The high-resolution cameras will be installed on the exterior of the ISS during a spacewalk. They will be operated online by amateurs from Earth.
