On June 14, new-series transport cargo vehicle (TCV) Progress МС-06 developed and manufactured by RSC Energia was successfully put into low Earth orbit by launch vehice Soyuz-2.1a and is headed for the International Space Station (ISS).
On June 14, 2017 at 12:20:13 Moscow time the launch vehicle with the cargo spacecraft was launched from Site No. 31 of the Baikonur cosmodrome. According to telemetry data, the vehicle separation from the third stage of the launch vehicle occurred on schedule. The deployment of antennas and solar array panels was detected. The vehicle was taken under control and started a classical four-orbit rendezvous with the ISS.
The automatic docking of the cargo vehicle to the docking port of the instrument compartment of Service module Zvezda of the ISS is scheduled on June 16, 2017 at 14:42±30 min Moscow time. The final approach will be monitored from the station by Russian cosmonaut Fedor YURCHIKHIN.
Progress МС-06 will deliver to the ISS 1311 kg of “dry cargo”, 620 kg of propellant in the refueling system tanks, 420 kg of water in Rodnik systems tanks, as well as 23 kg of compressed air and 24 kg of bottled compressed oxygen. The vehicle launch mass was 7277 kg.
The cargo vehicle is carrying various life support equipment for SM Zvezda, including filters for gas analytical hardware и water supply system, harmful contaminants devices, electric heater, absorbents and other auxiliary cargo items.
Packages, food ration containers and selections of fresh produce were prepared for the crewmembers. Among the sanitary hygienic support are napkins, towels, underwear sets, space coveralls. Medical kits for replacing expired medicinal preparations are provided for. The medical kits contain prophylactic and anti-inflammatory drugs, means preventing an adverse effect of weightlessness, as well as other drugs and nutritional supplements.
Sets of onboard data files, reflex camera, batteries, cables and data media for video and photo equipment, consumables for scientific and experiment equipment (biological, biomedical investigations and space biotechnological experiments), onboard system maintenance and repair equipment, (including the cosmonaut knife), as well as individual protective gear, including spacecraft Orlan-MK will be delivered to the ISS.
The vehicle will deliver to the station nanosatellites "Tanyusha-YuZGU", which were manufactured by students and young scientists of the South-Western State University (YuZGU, Kursk) with the participation of RSC Energia specialists within the framework of the space experiment "Radioskaf". The satellites will be launched by Russian cosmonauts during the spacewalk in 2017 - a year remarkable for Russian cosmonautics - a year of the 60th anniversary of the space age and the 160th anniversary of the founder of cosmonautics, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. From the satellites with an interval of three minutes, congratulatory voice messages in four languages (Russian, English, Chinese, Spanish) will be transmitted to the ground. The messages will be transmitted at a frequency accessible to radio amateurs.
The Progress cargo also includes nanosatellite ТНС-0 No.2 developed and manufactured by JSC "Russian Space Systems".
Progress МС-06 will also deliver 71 kg of US hardware, in particular the onboard data files, provisions and packages for the crew.
