Progress M-18

Progress M-18
Mission type Mir resupply
COSPAR ID 1993-034A
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Progress-M 11F615A55
Manufacturer NPO Energia
Launch mass 7,250 kilograms (15,980 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 22 May 1993, 06:41:47 (1993-05-22UTC06:41:47Z) UTC
Rocket Soyuz-U2
Launch site Baikonur Site 1/5
End of mission
Disposal Deorbited
Decay date 4 July 1993 (1993-07-05)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Perigee 388 kilometres (241 mi)[1]
Apogee 390 kilometres (240 mi)[1]
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Docking with Mir
Docking port Core Forward
Docking date 24 May 1993, 08:24:44 UTC
Undocking date 3 July 1993, 15:58:16 UTC
Time docked 40 days

Progress M-18 was a Russian unmanned cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1993 to resupply the Mir space station.[2] The thirty-sixth of sixty four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration,[3] and had the serial number 218.[4] It carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-13 crew aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres.

Progress M-18 was launched at 06:41:47 GMT on 22 May 1993, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.[4] It was the last Progress spacecraft to be launched on a Soyuz-U2. Following two days of free flight, it docked with the Forward port of Mir's core module at 08:24:44 GMT on 24 May.[5][6]

During the 40 days for which Progress M-18 was docked, Mir was in an orbit of around 388 by 390 kilometres (210 by 211 nmi), inclined at 51.6 degrees.[1] Progress M-18 undocked from Mir at 15:58:16 GMT on 3 July; less than half an hour before Soyuz TM-17 docked with the port which it had vacated. It was deorbited around a day later, to a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean.[1][5] Before undocking, a VBK-Raduga capsule launched aboard Progress M-17 had been installed on Progress M-18, and this separated once the deorbit burn was complete. The capsule landed successfully at 17:13 GMT.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  2. "Progress M-18". NSSDC Master Catalog. US National Space Science Data Center. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  3. Krebs, Gunter. "Progress-M 1 - 13, 15 - 37, 39 - 67 (11F615A55, 7KTGM)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  4. 1 2 McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  5. 1 2 3 Anikeev, Alexander. "Cargo spacecraft "Progress M-18"". Manned Astronautics - Figures & Facts. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  6. Wade, Mark. "Progress M". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
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