Russian cosmonaut photographed emergency Progress flying past

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, using photographic equipment available on board the ISS, photographed the Progress M-30M cargo ship flying 170 km below the station on the night of April 27 and transferred the resulting images to the Mission Control Center (MCC), Interfax was told in space industry.

“Unfortunately, the resolution of the images turned out to be insufficient. This did not allow us to assess the external damage that the ship may have received as a result of an emergency situation during its separation from the third stage of the launch vehicle,” the agency’s interlocutor said.

He noted that attempts to photograph Progress from aboard the ISS will continue, because such images could help experts establish what exactly happened during the separation of the spacecraft and the third stage of the Soyuz rocket on April 28.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket, developed and produced by the Samara Progress Rocket and Space Center, with the Progress M-27M cargo ship launched from Baikonur on April 28. At the moment the ship separated from the third stage of the rocket, the Russian Mission Control Center stopped receiving telemetry information. Despite attempts made to take control of the ship, this was not possible. Ship started arbitrary and uncontrollable decline. During the day, the height of its orbit decreases by more than 100 meters. Now it is in orbit with the parameters 270 km (at apogee) and 190 km (at perigee). The ISS revolves around the earth at a distance of about 400 km.