Same-day delivery
collectSPACE.com
Russia on Wednesday upgraded its cargo and supply service to the International Space Station from 2nd-day to same-day delivery. The unmanned Progress M-16M spacecraft lifted off at 2:35 p.m. and docked to the orbiting complex after circling Earth just four times at 8:18 p.m. CT. The previous 47 Progress vehicles that delivered cargo to the space station took two days to arrive. This was the first test of an “expedited rendezvous” for the station but “old technology,” explained NASA’s ISS flight director Chris Edelen in a recent press briefing. “Our first ground-up rendezvous on the Gemini program was a Flight Day 1 rendezvous, and the Russians have done this before, so it is sort of a back to the future.”
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2012-08-02 13:59:01
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