Dockings in space

Steady... steady... careful now...

On Wednesday morning November 2, Progress 45, a robotic cargo delivery spacecraft, approached the International Space Station and successfully docked to the Russian PIRS module. Supplies included food, fuel, oxygen, water, and electronic supplies. I'm sure what the astronauts of Expedition 29 were REALLY waiting for were the 2 Apple iPads that were stored on board!

THis docking brings a sigh of relief from Russian space program managers, who were no doubt worried to death after the failure of the last Progress mission. That crash resulted in a delay of the Progress missions. Looks like the bugs have been worked out... for now.

Steady... steady... careful now...

Celebrations in China this week as a major milestone has been achieved for the Chinese SPace Program. Earlier this year, China launched the Tiangong-1 science module, basically a mini-space station. Tee T-1 will be used for practice in rendezvous and docking practice, and later next year Chinese Astronauts will actually dock with the spacecraft. In this event, a Shenzhou-8 Space ship robotically docked with the T-1 module. China is continuing to make strides forward in their development. No doubt this is due to all the scientific help we have either given them or they have stolen. I do not make that claim lightly.

Posted by Mark Daymont
Space Center Educator