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1.10 Progress (1975-1990)

Progress (figure 1-24) was an unmanned version of the Soyuz Ferry designed to perform logistics resupply of the Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir space stations. Progress missions 1 through 12 carried supplies to Salyut 6. Missions 13 through 24 visited Salyut 7, as did the unusual Progress-related Cosmos 1669 mission. Progress missions 25 through 42 served the Mir station. The first 17 Progress missions to Mir delivered 40 tons of supplies, about double the station’s launch weight. Most Progress spacecraft functioned routinely, as expected of a logistics spacecraft. No docking anomalies occurred in the 43 flights of Progress (Progress 1 through 42 plus Cosmos 1669).

Figure 1-24. Progress logistics resupply spacecraft. It consists of the dry cargo module (left); the tanker compartment (center); and a stretched service module (right).

1.10.1 Progress Specifications

Launch weight .......................................... 7020-7240 kg
Weight of cargo (Progress 1-24) ................. about 2300 kg
Weight of cargo (Progress 25-42)................ about 2500 kg
Length ..................................................... 7.94 m
Diameter of cargo modules ........................ 2.2 m
Maximum diameter ................................... 2.72 m
Volume of cargo compartment ................... 6.6 m3

1.10.2 Progress Notable Features

  • Launched on a Soyuz rocket under the same type of shroud as the Soyuz Ferry, but with no escape systems.
  • Always docked with the aft port of its station target.
  • Soyuz descent module replaced by tanker compartment, an assemblage of tanks in an unpressurized conical housing. The pressurized orbital module carried dry cargo. The crew could enter the orbital module to unload dry cargo, but had no access to the tanker compartment.
  • No part of Progress was designed to be recovered. At the conclusion of its space station resupply mission, a Progress freighter was intentionally deorbited over the Pacific Ocean, where any pieces which survived incineration could fall harmlessly.

1.10.3 Progress Detailed Description

Spacecraft designer Konstantin Feoktistov published a brochure in 1980 in Moscow in which he described Progress in some detail.[1] A summary is given below.

Feoktistov stated that Progress constituted an alternative to building reusable (“multiple use”) logistics vehicles. A reusable vehicle, he asserted, would be 1.5 to 2 times heavier empty than the equivalent expendable logistics craft. This would call for a booster nearly as large as the three-stage Proton rocket used to launch Salyut. “If we are talking about an economically effective earth-orbit-earth transport system,” Feoktistov continued, “then it appears expedient to build a fully multiple use complex, not only the spaceship, but also the booster rocket.” This would take too much time; therefore, “when designing the Progress spacecraft the decision was made to make it single-use and to

  1. Feoktistov, pp. 37-40.