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Russia’s Progress resupply ship docks in manual mode due to deviation from berth axis

The docking took place at 9:26 a.m. Moscow time
The Progress MS-16 cargo spacecraft Roscosmos
The Progress MS-16 cargo spacecraft
© Roscosmos

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. The Russian Progress MS-16 cargo spacecraft switched from the automatic to the remote control mode of docking with the International Space Station (ISS) due to its deviation from the berthing axis, the state space corporation Roscosmos told TASS on Wednesday.

"During the docking, the Progress MS-16 cargo transportation spacecraft deviated from the mooring axis," the Russian space agency said.

Following the recommendations by specialists of the flight control group, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov switched the spacecraft to the manual mode of docking and docked the Progress to the orbital outpost normally, the Roscosmos press office specified.

The Progress MS-16 resupply ship docked at 9:26 a.m. Moscow time. Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on his Telegram channel that he had thanked Ryzhikov for "the spacecraft’s skillful remote control."

The Progress MS-16 cargo spaceship was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on February 15. For the first time since November 2018, the Progress spacecraft travelled to the orbital outpost under a two-day scheme. Initially, the resupply ship was expected to dock to the space station in the automatic mode but specialists of Russia’s Flight Control Center recommended that the cosmonauts should switch to the remote control mode when crewmembers control the cargo spacecraft with the help of special equipment from the International Space Station.

Progress MS-16 cargo spacecraft’s supplies

The Progress MS-16 resupply ship has delivered 600 kg of resupply propellant, 420 liters of potable water of the Rodnik system, 40.5 kg of compressed gases with additional nitrogen supplies and about 1,400 kg of various equipment and materials, specifically, equipment for onboard control, life support systems, kits for space experiments and medical monitoring, sanitary and hygienic items, clothing, standard food rations and fresh products for the current expedition crewmembers.

The Progress MS-16 spacecraft has also delivered a repair and recovery kit that consists of a set of reinforcing plates with an adhesive bond to temporarily seal the crack aboard the space station.

One of the main tasks of the Progress MS-16 resupply ship will be to drown the Pirs module to vacate the place for Russia’s Nauka (Science) laboratory module whose launch to the International Space Station is planned in the summer of this year.

Currently, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, US astronauts Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi are working on the International Space Station.