|
|
    
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Second cargo mission resupplies new Mir On April 23, 1986, barely a month after the first cargo delivery, the second supply mission was launched to the nascent Mir space station. Along with the most immediate cargo for the newly launched Core Module, the Progress-26 cargo ship delivered cargo specifically for the upcoming trip of the Soyuz T-15 spacecraft from Mir to Salyut-7.
 Progress-26 mission at a glance:
According to TASS, the Progress-26 cargo ship lifted off on April 23, 1986, at 23:40 Moscow Time and entered a 274 by 190-kilometer orbit. It spent nearly three days in autonomous flight, concluding with a successful docking at the Core Module's aft compartment on April 27, 1986, at 01:26 Moscow Time under fully automated control. As usual, the spacecraft delivered propellant, food, water and other critical supplies to the first crew aboard Mir. Official Soviet sources also reported that the spacecraft delivered equipment for the upgrades of Mir, which was installed in the Core Module by the Soyuz T-15 crew. Progress-26 also used its own propulsion system to conduct an orbit correction of the station. Progress-26 remained docked at the station as Soyuz T-15 departed Mir for a trip to Salyut-7 in early May 1986. It was a part of the complex when the first Soyuz TM spacecraft, also without crew, docked at the front end of the Core Module, forming the first three-vehicle robotic stack in orbit later in May. However, on June 22, 1986, at 22:25 Moscow Time, while Soyuz T-15 was still on Salyut-7, Progress-26 was undocked from the core's aft docking port, so that its Igla rendezvous equipment could be used by the returning Soyuz T-15, whose trip back from Salyut-7 to Mir was planned for June 25, 1986. On June 23, 1986, at 22:40 Moscow Time, Progress-26 initiated a braking maneuver, resulting in its destructive reentry.
|
|
 |
