spacetoday.net: Progress docks with ISS after glitch

Posted: Thu, Oct 26, 2006, 9:00 PM ET (0100 GMT)
Progress M-58 on approach to ISS (NASA)

A Progress cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, but had to wait several hours to lock into place because of a technical problem. The Progress M-58 spacecraft docked with the aft port of the Zvezda module at 10:29 am EDT (1429 GMT) Thursday. Normally the Progress firmly latches itself to the docking port shortly after the initial docking, but in this case that phase was delayed by about three and a half hours after Russian mission controls received an indication that the Progress' Kurs antenna had failed to retract, which would have interfered with the docking. After determining that the antenna had likely indeed retracted, the Progress completed docking without incident. During this time the ISS was in free drift to avoid disturbing the Progress, causing the station's solar panels to lose their ideal orientation to the Sun and thus reducing the amount of power available to the station. Some nonessential equipment was turned off to compensate for the reduced power, which returned to normal after the docking was completed. The Progress is carrying about 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, and other supplies for the three-man Expedition 14 crew.