Progress MS-18 (Russian: Прогресс МC-18), Russian production No. 447, identified by NASA as Progress 79P, was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This was the 170th flight of a Progress spacecraft.
![]() Progress MS-18 after undocking | |
Names | Progress 79P |
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Mission type | ISS resupply |
Operator | Roscosmos |
COSPAR ID | 2021-098A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 49379 |
Website | https://www.roscosmos.ru/ |
Mission duration | 216 days, 11 hours and 51 minutes |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Progress MS-18 No. 447 |
Bus | Progress MS |
Manufacturer | KSC Energia |
Launch mass | 7,000 kg (15,000 lb) |
Payload mass | 2,439 kg (5,377 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 28 October 2021, 00:00:32 UTC[1] |
Rocket | Soyuz-2.1a |
Launch site | Baikonur, Site 31/6 |
Contractor | Progress Rocket Space Centre |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Deorbited |
Decay date | 1 June 2022, 11:51 UTC |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.65° |
Docking with ISS | |
Docking port | Zvezda aft |
Docking date | 30 October 2021, 01:31:19 UTC |
Undocking date | 1 June 2022, 08:03 UTC |
Time docked | 214 days, 6 hours and 32 minutes |
Payload | |
Cargo and LCCS part of MLM Means of Attachment of Large payloads | |
Mass | 2,439 kg (5,377 lb) [2] |
Pressurised | 1,509 kg (3,327 lb) |
Fuel | 470 kg (1,040 lb) |
Gaseous | 40 kg (88 lb) |
Water | 420 kg (930 lb) |
Progress ISS Resupply |
The Progress MS is an uncrewed freighter based on the Progress-M featuring improved avionics. This improved variant first launched on 21 December 2015. It has the following improvements:[3][4][5][6]
On 3 February 2021, Roskosmos approved the updated flight program to the International Space Station for 2021, highlighted with the addition of two permanent modules to the Russian Segment of the outpost. A short tourist visit to the ISS at the end of the year also got the green light.[7]
A Soyuz-2.1a launched Progress MS-18 to the International Space Station from Baikonur Site 31 on 28 October 2021 on a two-day, 36 orbit rendezvous profile.[8][9][10] If the air leak repairs planned for Zvezda's PrK chamber (delivery of sealing patches aboard Progress MS-16 in February 2021) were successful, then 3 hours 20 minutes after the launch Progress MS-18 would have attempted to automatically dock to Zvezda's aft port.[7]
The vehicle docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module (SM), on 30 October 2021, at 01:31:19 UTC, and was planned to remain in orbit for 215 days, supporting the Expedition 66 mission aboard the ISS.[11]
The Progress MS-18 spacecraft was loaded with 2,439 kg (5,377 lb) of cargo, with 1,509 kg (3,327 lb) of this being dry cargo.[2]
It also delivered the LCCS part MLM Means of Attachment of Large payloads to ISS. It is a 4 segment external payload interface called means of attachment of large payloads (Sredstva Krepleniya Krupnogabaritnykh Obyektov, SKKO)[12][13][14] According to plans, once the nadir end of SKKO was soft docked to Nauka and bolted down, the launch locks on SKKO would be released by the spacewalkers to allow it to be unfolded and extended with its joints self locking in the extended position to create a rigid frame. Then the Zenith end of SKKO would be soft docked to Nauka and bolted down. The 3 passive payload adapters and the one active payload adapter (i.e. active remote sensing payload like MIR Priroda's Travers Synthetic Aperture Radar) would then be outfitted. The SKKO was derived from the setup used on the Priroda module.[15] SKKO was launched inside the progress and transferred inside to a temporary storage location inside one of the station modules. It would be taken outside and installed on the aft facing side of Nauka during the VKD-60 spacewalk.[16][17] SCCS part of MLM Means of Attachment of Large payloads was delivered to ISS by Progress MS-21 spacecraft.[18]
The Progress MS-18 remained docked at the station until 1 June 2022, when it departed with trash and re-entered the Earth's atmosphere for destruction over the South Pacific Ocean.
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Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). |