Problems with Progress: the second in a row Russian spacecraft had difficulty docking with the ISS

To dock the Progress MS-16 truck launched on February 15 with the Pirs module on the International Space Station, we had to switch from the automatic rendezvous system to manual control: the antenna on the unmanned vehicle was damaged and deviations from the docking axis occurred. This was reported by the propaganda resource of the Russian Federation TASS, citing sources in the rocket and space industry.

The position of the antenna on Progress “differed from the base one,” the source said. According to another source, this could be due to its damage by the rocket’s nose fairing.

Thus, the signal for the rendezvous system Kurs was not strong enough to automatically dock, and the ISS Commander Sergei Ryzhikov had to switch to teleoperator control mode (TORU), that is, dock manually. The docking took place over Argentina.

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The Progress MS-15 truck had similar problems in July 2020. Then switching to the TORU was not needed and the docking, with some problems, was nevertheless carried out in automatic mode.

Progress brought a little over a ton of cargo to the ISS. It will remain docked until the end of this year.

Instead of an independent flight downward for combustion, this time the spacecraft will fly away together with the Russian module disconnected from the ISS (Pierce served for almost 20 years), and collapse in the atmosphere. Instead of the destroyed module, a new one will be brought into orbit – Science.

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