HTV-3 and Progress M-15M Dock with ISS

HTV-3 approaching ISS on July 27 (Credits: NASA).

On July 27, the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle 3 (HTV-3) was captured and berthed to the International Space Station. On July 28, the Russian Progress M-15M cargo ship made a successful automated dock testing a new system that had failed less than a week earlier.

The HTV-3, which launched aboard a H-IIB from Tanegashima Space Center on July 20, arrived on scheduled and was captured by NASA astronaut Joe Acaba using the Canadarm2, assisted by JAXA’s Aki Hoshide. The hatch was opened on Saturday, and the station crew spent the weekend unloading the four tons of cargo including food and clothing, an aquatic habitat experiment, a remote-controlled Earth-observation camera for environmental studies, a catalytic reactor for the station’s water regeneration system and a Japanese cooling water recirculation pump. The HTV-3 will remain docked to the Harmony node until September 6 when it will be released to burn up in the atmosphere.

Successful docking of HTV-3 allowed the Progress M-15M to proceed with it’s second attempt at an automated docking using the new Kurs-Na system. The first system test resulted in an automatic abort on July 23. Progress M-15M maintained a synchronized orbit with the station while waiting for the arrival of HTV-3 so as not to interfere with the scheduled docking of that spacecraft. Although the official report indicates that this was the second docking attempt, Anatoly Zak of Russian Space Web has reported “unofficial but reliable sources” as saying that there were several attempts to test the Kurs Na system, all of which failed, prior to July 29’s success. NASA has indicated that the failures may have been due to cold temperatures in the cargo ship impeding operations. The ship was warmed to 22°C before the last attempt. Further information is not available, with Russian sources indicating the project has been classified.

Although the initial plan was for Progress M-15M to be rereleased without opening the hatch, the issues with Kurs Na caused that plan to be revised. Now, the station’s crew are expected to enter the vessel, disassemble the avionics box, and hold it for return to Earth when next possible. The Progress M-15M will burn up in the atmosphere after it is undocked from the Pirs module, which is now scheduled for July 31.

Watch the Progress M-15M’s successful test ofthe Kurs Na automated docking system below: