Mission type | Test flight |
---|---|
Operator | Roscosmos |
COSPAR ID | 2019-055A |
SATCAT no. | 44504 |
Mission duration | 15d 17h 45m |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz-MS 11F747 |
Manufacturer | RKK Energia |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 03:38,22 August 2019(UTC) [1] [2] |
Rocket | Soyuz-2.1a |
Launch site | Baikonur, Pad 31/6 |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 21:32,6 September 2019(UTC) [3] |
Landing site | 147 km southeast of Dzheskasgan [4] |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Inclination | 51.6° |
Docking with ISS (First attempt) | |
Docking port | Poisk zenith |
Docking date | Aborted: 24 August 2019, 05:36 UTC [4] |
Docking with ISS (Second attempt) | |
Docking port | Zvezda aft |
Docking date | 27 August 2019,03:08 UTC [5] · [4] |
Undocking date | 06 September 2019,18:14 UTC [6] · [4] |
Time docked | 10d 15h 6m |
Cargo | |
Mass | 660 kg [2] · [7] |
Soyuz MS-14 was a Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. [1] It carried no crew members,as it was intended to test a modification of the launch abort system for integration with the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle. [8] It launched successfully on 22 August 2019 at 03:38 UTC. [2] It was the first mission of the Soyuz crew vehicle without a crew in 33 years,and the first ever unpiloted mission of Soyuz to the ISS. [9]
Unlike the traditional Soyuz-FG launcher which is turned on its launchpad to set azimuth of its flight,Soyuz-2 performs a roll maneuver during its flight to change direction. The maneuver would trigger the analog launch abort system designed for Soyuz-FG. Soyuz MS-14 tested a solution for this issue. The 14th flight of Soyuz MS is the 143rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. If all goes well,future crewed missions will use the new configuration starting with Soyuz MS-16 in early 2020. [10]
Besides testing the integration of the new launcher and the abort system Soyuz MS-14 is also testing an upgraded navigation and propulsion control system. [11] The results of the testing will be used in the design of Soyuz GVK,an uncrewed cargo delivery and return spacecraft,tentatively scheduled to be launched for the first time in 2022. [11]
Unlike preceding and future Soyuz MS spacecraft,Soyuz MS-14 lacks various crew support systems.
The spacecraft carried cargo to the International Space Station,among other things a humanoid robot Fedor that travelled in the crew compartment of the Soyuz (which was available to use as the mission had no crew). The Fedor robot returned to Earth on 6 September 2019 in the landing crew capsule of Soyuz MS-14 (which was again uncrewed). According to NASA,1,450 pounds (660 kg) of cargo were delivered to ISS. [9]
The spacecraft delivered the Mini-EUSO telescope to the ISS. [12]
In August 2021,the descent module was handed over to Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works for placement in a museum. [13]
Following a flawless two-day-long free flight and rendezvous with the ISS,MS-14 was scheduled to dock with the station's Poisk module at 05:30 UTC on 24 August 2019. During the final phases of the spacecraft's approach to the ISS,its Kurs rendezvous system failed to lock onto the station and the spacecraft was not able to dock. Expedition 60 commander Aleksey Ovchinin commanded MS-14 to abort its docking,after which the spacecraft backed away to a safe distance from the ISS. [14] Whereas most unmanned Russian spacecraft flying to ISS also feature a TORU backup system enabling cosmonauts to take manual control of the spacecraft from the ISS,this system was not fitted to MS-14. [15] The fault was located on the Kurs signal amplifier on ISS's Poisk docking module,and initial plans called for the cosmonauts to replace this amplifier ahead of a new docking attempt. [16] It was subsequently decided that,on 26 August,the crew of Soyuz MS-13 would relocate their spacecraft from the aft port on the Zvezda module to perform a manual docking at the faulty Poisk port,freeing up a port for MS-14 to dock using Kurs on 27 August 2019. [15]
After trailing the ISS for several days at a distance of over 160 miles,Soyuz MS-14 successfully docked autonomously to the Zvezda aft port on 27 August 2019 at 03:08 UTC. [5]
Soyuz is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s,having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs. It is launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Between the 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttle and the 2020 demo flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon,the Soyuz served as the only means to ferry crew to or from the International Space Station,for which it remains heavily used. Although China did launch crewed Shenzhou flights during this time,none of them docked with the ISS.
Nauka,also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module-Upgrade or simply Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM),is a module of the International Space Station (ISS). The MLM-U is funded by Roscosmos. In the original ISS plans,Nauka was to use the location of the Docking and Storage Module (DSM). Later,the DSM was replaced by the Rassvet module and Nauka was moved from Zarya's nadir port to Zvezda's nadir port.
Kurs is a radio control system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.
Poisk,also known as the Mini-Research Module 2,Малыйисследовательскиймодуль2,or МИМ2,is a docking module of the International Space Station. Its original name was Docking Module 2,as it is almost identical to the Pirs Docking Compartment. Added in 2009,Poisk was the first major Russian addition to the International Space Station since 2001. Poisk is overall the same design as the docking module Pirs. Whereas Pirs had been attached to the nadir ("bottom") port of Zvezda,Poisk is attached to the zenith ("top");Pirs was closer to the Earth with the ISS in its usual orientation,and Poisk is on the other side. Poisk is Russian for explore or search. Poisk combines various docking,EVA,and science capabilities. It has two egress hatches for EVAs in addition to the two spacecraft docking ports. Although Poisk is designated as Mini-Research Module 2,it arrived before Mini-Research Module 1 (Rassvet),which had a different design;Poisk looks more like the Pirs docking port,which is not designated as a mini-research module.
Anton Nikolaevich Shkaplerov is a Russian cosmonaut. He is a veteran of four spaceflights.
Docking and berthing of spacecraft is the joining of two space vehicles. This connection can be temporary,or partially permanent such as for space station modules.
Prichal nodal module also known as Uzlovoy Module or UM is a Russian spacecraft which is part of the International Space Station (ISS). It was approved in 2011 and was launched on 24 November 2021,at 13:06:35 UTC,atop Progress M-UM,with operations beginning in 2022. Originally,the nodal module was intended to serve as the only permanent element of the future Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex (OPSEK),but those plans were scrapped in 2017.
Progress M-15M,identified by NASA as Progress 47P,is a Progress spacecraft used by Roskosmos to resupply the International Space Station during 2012. The fifteenth Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft,it has the serial number 415 and was built by RKK Energia. It arrived at the ISS in late April to deliver supplies to the Expedition 30 crew,and departed the ISS in late July 2012.
The Soyuz MS is a revision of the Russian spacecraft series Soyuz first launched in 2016. It is an evolution of the Soyuz TMA-M spacecraft,with modernization mostly concentrated on the communications and navigation subsystems. It is used by Roscosmos for human spaceflight. The Soyuz MS has minimal external changes with respect to the Soyuz TMA-M,mostly limited to antennas and sensors,as well as the thruster placement.
Progress MS-01,identified by NASA as Progress 62P was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015. It was launched on 21 December 2015,to deliver cargo to the ISS. Progress MS-01 is the first vehicle in the Progress-MS series.
Progress MS-11,identified by NASA as Progress 72P,was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This was the 163rd flight of a Progress spacecraft.
Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight that aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two members of the Expedition 57 crew to the International Space Station. A few minutes after liftoff,the craft went into contingency abort due to a booster failure and had to return to Earth. By the time the contingency abort was declared,the launch escape system (LES) tower had already been ejected and the capsule was pulled away from the rocket using the solid rocket jettison motors on the capsule fairing. Both crew members,Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague,were recovered in good health. The MS-10 flight abort was the first instance of a Russian crewed booster accident in 35 years,since Soyuz T-10-1 exploded on the launch pad in September 1983. On 1 November 2018,Russian scientists released a video recording of the mission.
Soyuz MS-13,also designated ISS flight 59S,was a crewed Soyuz mission launched on 20 July 2019 –the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing –carrying three members of the Expedition 60 crew to the International Space Station:a Russian commander,an American and a European flight engineer. Soyuz MS-13 was the 142nd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was at one point the last Soyuz flight contracted by NASA in the expectation that subsequent astronaut transport would be provided by the Commercial Crew Program,but in early 2019 NASA sought to purchase two additional Soyuz seats to provide greater certainty given delays in that program.
Soyuz MS-17 was a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 14 October 2020. It transported three crew members of the Expedition 63/64 crew to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-17 was the 145th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander and a Russian and American flight engineer.
Soyuz MS-18 was a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 9 April 2021 at 07:42:41 UTC. It transported three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz MS-18 was the 146th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The launching crew consisted of a Russian commander,a Russian flight engineer,and an American flight engineer of NASA. The spacecraft returned to Earth on 17 October 2021 following 191 days in space. The flight served as the landing vehicle for the Russian film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild who launched to the ISS aboard Soyuz MS-19 and spent twelve days in space in order to film a movie,Vyzov.
Soyuz MS-19 was a Soyuz spaceflight which launched on 5 October 2021,at 08:55:02 UTC. It was the 147th flight of a crewed Soyuz spacecraft. The launching crew consisted of Russian commander Anton Shkaplerov,Russian film director Klim Shipenko and Russian actress Yulia Peresild. Shipenko and Peresild spent about twelve days on the International Space Station before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-18,while filming a movie in space,Vyzov. The MS-18 flight launched two crew members of the Expedition 66. Without an American astronaut,this launch marked the first time in more than 21 years that a Soyuz crew only included Russian cosmonauts and travelers and the ship had to be upgraded to be piloted by a single person at launch. This is also the first mission to the ISS with an entirely Russian crew.
Progress MS-17,Russian production No. 446,identified by NASA as Progress 78P,was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This was the 169th flight of a Progress spacecraft.
Progress MS-21,Russian production No.451,identified by NASA as Progress 82P,is a Progress spaceflight launched by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It is the 174th flight of a Progress spacecraft.
Progress MS-22,Russian production No.452,identified by NASA as Progress 83P,is a Progress spaceflight launched by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It is the 175th flight of a Progress spacecraft.