Progress M-13M

Progress M-13M (Russian: Прогресс М-13М), identified by NASA as Progress 45 or 45P, is a Progress spacecraft which reached the International Space Station (ISS) on 2 November 2011. The Progress M-13M spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:11 GMT on 30 October, starting off the 45th unmanned Russian space station resupply mission. The spacecraft was manufactured by RKK Energia, and is operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency. The Soyuz-U rocket carrying the cargo ship functioned nominally as advertised. Approximately nine minutes into the launch, Progress M-13M reached its planned preliminary orbit.

Launch

Progress M-13M launches from Baikonur's pad 1 on October 30, 2011.

The launch of the Progress M-13M spacecraft occurred at 10:11 GMT on 30 October 2011. The launch was the first successful Soyuz booster flight to the Space Station since the 24 August 2011 failure of the Soyuz-U booster carrying the Progress M-12M cargo ship. The temperature on the launch day was 39 F. Approximately nine minutes following the liftoff, the Progress M-13M spacecraft successfully reached orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigation antennas. The spacecraft was inserted into a parking low-Earth orbit with 51.65 deg. inclination, 192.98 km minimal altitude, 252.9 km maximum altitude, 88.66 minutes orbital period.

Docking

The Progress M-13M rendezvoused with and dock to the ISS at the Nadir port of the Pirs Docking Compartment 2 November 2011 at 11:41 GMT. The spacecraft followed an unusual three days of free flight instead of the usual two. The Pirs Nadir port was vacated by the Progress M-10M spacecraft on 29 October 2011, which undocked at 9:04 GMT.

After arriving to the vicinity of the ISS, Progress M-13M began a flyaround maneuver to get lined up with the docking port. It then executed a roll maneuver to properly orient its forward nose probe with the Pirs Docking Compartment. A momentary station keeping hold with about 620 feet between the the two spacecrafts allowed Russian flight controllers at the Moscow Mission Control to check the systems before issuing the approval to begin the 11-minute final approach to the ISS. The automated docking system of the Progress M-13M operated flawlessly and the linkup of Progress M-13M to the Space Station's Pirs docking port occurred just before an orbital sunset while the two spacecraft were orbiting 247 miles above northern China.

Following the on time docking, hooks and latches were engaged a few minutes after to secure the cargo ship to the ISS. Narrating about the event, NASA commentator Rob Navias said "On the 11th anniversary of the arrival of the first residents of the International Space Station, supplies have arrived to fortify the station for the Expedition 29 crew and beyond," on NASA TV. The Expedition 29 crew of Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa opened the hatches and entered the Progress spacecraft later on the day.

Undocking and decay

Progress M-13M is planned to remain docked to the Space Station for nearly three months. It will undock from Pirs Nadir port on 25 January 2012, releasing the Chibis-M satellite which was produced by the Institute of Space Research Institute and the Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) prior to de-orbiting. The 40 kg small Chibis-M satellite is designed to study gamma radiation in atmospheric lightning. Previously, other spacecrafts have found that high-altitude thunderstorm are accompanied by powerful pulses of gamma-and X-ray and radio pulses of ultrahigh power.

Cargo

The Progress M-13M spacecraft was packed with 2.9 tons of food, fuel and supplies, including 1,653 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen, 926 pounds of water, and 3,108 pounds of maintenance gear, spare parts and hardware for experiments. It also carried two iPads for personal use by the ISS Russian cosmonauts.

Inventory

Total cargo mass delivered: 2648 kg

Item description	Mass (kg)
Propellant in the propulsion system tanks for the ISS needs	250
Propellant in the refuelling system tanks	578
Oxygen	50
Water in the Rodnik system tanks	420
Items in the cargo compartment	1350
SOGS gas mixture composition control	15
SVO water supply control	50
SOTR heat exchange control	9
SUBA equipment control	9
SEP electric supply	1
STOR maintenance and repair items	7
Sanitary and hygienic items	125
SIZ Invividual protection items	17
Lighting means	7
Food containers, fresh products	316
Medical equipment, linen, personal hygienic and prophylactics items	143
FGB hardware	11
Rassvet hardware	4
"Chibis-M" microsatellite and equipment for scientific experiments "Tipologiya", "Ginseng-2", "Struktura", "Plasma Crystal-3 plus"	51
Onboard documentation, crew parcel, video and photo equipment	24
A special delivery for Russian crewmembers	138
US Orbital Segment hardware	423