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International Space Station supply ship undocks BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: March 27, 2007 The Russian Progress 23P cargo freighter, certain to be remembered as the resupply ship with a troublesome antenna that required an intervention by spacewalkers, safely left the International Space Station on Tuesday for its fiery re-entry into the atmosphere.
That departure began with the undocking command at 2:08 p.m. EDT Tuesday. Retention hooks swung open and the craft sprung away at 2:11 p.m. Three minutes later, thrusters on the ship fired to increase the rate of separation. The 2-minute, 25-second deorbit burn was scheduled to commence at 6:44:30 p.m. EDT, putting the craft on a course to plunge back to Earth and burn up. The Progress, filled with trash and unneeded items, was expected to hit the upper traces of the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 7:19:36 p.m. The now-vacant Zvezda docking port will be filled by the station's current Soyuz spacecraft on Thursday. The Expedition 14 crew will climb aboard the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule and fly it from the Zarya control module over to Zvezda. The relocation event begins with undocking at 6:30 p.m. and concludes with the linkup at the new port 25 minutes later. Meanwhile, the next station residents flew to Baikonur Cosmodrome this morning to begin final preparations for launch. Expedition 15 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineer Oleg Kotov and tourist Charles Simonyi are slated for blastoff at 1:31 p.m. EDT April 7 aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 capsule. They will dock to the station's Zarya port around 3 p.m. EDT April 9. Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will return to Earth in the Soyuz TMA-9, departing from Zvezda, at 6:21 a.m. EDT April 20. Landing in Kazakhstan is expected at 9:37 a.m. NASA astronaut Suni Williams will remain aboard the station and switch from Expedition 14 to the Expedition 15 crew. Her ride home is shuttle Endeavour later this summer.
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Current Shuttle Mission Patch The official embroidered patch for shuttle Atlantis' flight to deliver critical spare equipment to the space station.Ares 1-X Patch The official embroidered patch for the Ares 1-X rocket test flight, is available for purchase.Apollo Collage This beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.![]() Project Orion The Orion crew exploration vehicle is NASA's first new human spacecraft developed since the space shuttle a quarter-century earlier. The capsule is one of the key elements of returning astronauts to the Moon.Fallen Heroes Patch Collection The official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store. |
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