Russian Progress 77 cargo spacecraft arrives at the ISS marking the end for Pirs
Shane McGlaun - Feb 17, 2021, 5:01am CST
Earlier this week, we mentioned that Russia had launched a resupply spacecraft to the ISS filled with supplies for the space station crew. The mission was Progress 77, and it has arrived at the ISS Pirs docking station on the Russian segment of the spacecraft as of 1:27 AM EST today. Progress 77 arrived at the ISS two days after launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday.
The ISS and Progress 77 were flying over Argentina when they docked. Aboard the cargo ship was over one ton of nitrogen, water, and propellant for the space station, along with new scientific experiments and supplies. Progress 77 will remain docked with the space station until later in the year.
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NASA sunsetting collaboration with Russia
NASA has moved to wean itself off Russia by reducing its staff and phasing out joint projects in Moscow after Elon Musk’s SpaceX ended America’s reliance on Russian rockets.
According to Russian media reports, NASA has started to lay off almost all staff members of its liaison office in Moscow, minimize personnel stationed at the astronaut training center in Star City, casualize the research team at the IMBP bio-medical experiment facility, and phase out joint programs.
“This is due to the end of regular flights of NASA astronauts on Russian spacecraft”.
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Russia To Launch Over 30 Non-military Commercial Projects And Space Missions In 2021
Russia will lift off a Soyuz-2-1a rocket to launch the Progress MS-16 cargo ship from Baikonur s Site 31 to the International Space Station in February.
Russia on January 1 announced the launch of at least 30 civilian and commercial spacecraft in 2021 under its Federal Space Program, sources in Russia s space and rocket industry told Sputnik, according to ANI. The nonmilitary launches will lift off from the cosmodromes of Baikonur, Plesetsk, and Vostochny, as well as from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, sources revealed. In 2021, about 30 Russian space launches as part of the Federal Space Program and commercial projects are expected, ANI quoted the Russian official as saying.
The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks.
Perhaps that explains, in part, the appeal of having one of humankind’s greatest scientific inventions communicate with Earth via technology that’s more than 100 years old. But perhaps there’s a simpler explanation for why astronauts and ham radio operators have been talking, and talking, for years.
NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock was just a few weeks into his six-month mission at the space station when feelings of isolation began to set in.
Wheelock would be separated from loved ones, save for communication via an internet phone, email or social media. At times, the stress and tension of serving as the station’s commander could be intense.