INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, July 21. /TASS/. Russian crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) have begun preparations to undock the Progress MS-22 cargo spacecraft, TASS special correspondent onboard the ISS, cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin, said on Friday.

The undocking is expected to take place in the second half of August.

Among other things, cosmonauts will have to load the outgoing cargo into the space freighter.

Progress MS-22 docked with the ISS on February 11. The craft has already steered the ISS clear of space debris on two occasions (on March 6 and March 11) and has also performed six scheduled adjustments of its orbit (on February 20, March 8, April 30, May 18, June 16 and July 5).

Progress MS is a Russian crewless vehicle, created especially for servicing orbital outposts. It is used to deliver various cargoes (fuel, research equipment, oxygen, water, food and others supplies) to the ISS, as well as to adjust its orbit.

On November 17, 2021, TASS and Roscosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, according to which the agency’s office was opened on the ISS. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin became the first special correspondent for TASS. His flight lasted 12 days. Oleg Artemyev took over as the agency’s second special correspondent. The current contributor to the TASS news feed from the orbital outpost is Dmitry Petelin.