VBK-Raduga

NASA illustration of Raduga ballistic return capsule during final descent to Earth.

The VBK-Raduga capsule is a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment. For return, the capsule would be substituted for the Progress' docking probe before it left the space station, and then after the Progress-M performed its deorbit burn the capsule was ejected at 120 km altitude to reenter the atmosphere independently. It would then parachute to a landing area in Russia.

Each Raduga is about 1.5 m long, is 60 cm in diameter, and has a mass of about 350 kg empty. It can bring about 150 kg of cargo back to Earth. Use of the Raduga reduces Progress-M's cargo capacity by about 100 kg, to a maximum of about 2400 kg.

The European Space Agency was studying a very similar system, called PARES (Payload Retrieval System), for use in combination with the Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Capsule	Launch date	Carried by	Notes
VBK-Raduga 1	September 27 1990	Progress-M 5
VBK-Raduga 2	March 19 1991	Progress-M 7	Lost on reentry
VBK-Raduga 3	August 20 1991	Progress-M 9
VBK-Raduga 4	October 17 1991	Progress-M 10
VBK-Raduga 5	April 19 1992	Progress-M 12
VBK-Raduga 6	August 15 1992	Progress-M 14
VBK-Raduga 7	March 31 1993	Progress-M 17	Capsule returned by Progress-M 18
VBK-Raduga 8	August 10 1993	Progress-M 19
VBK-Raduga 9	October 11 1993	Progress-M 20
VBK-Raduga 10	March 22 1994	Progress-M 22

See also

• MKB Raduga