In space, mankind flew back in the last century. During this time, space technology has made a powerful breakthrough. But if astronauts stay on board the orbital stations for a long time, then there is a need for cargo space transportation, and such traffic must be regular. One of the simplest solutions to this problem was the development of special transport. On the basis of the Soyuz, which is under the control of pilots, scientists have created a cargo space vehicle.
The purpose of freight traffic is to increaseterm of active existence of the orbital station. The capabilities of the manned spacecraft Soyuz in terms of the capacity of the necessary equipment and consumables that were required for life support and full-fledged work of the station and crew, were limited. Therefore, a special ship "Progress" was developed with maximum use spacecraft (spacecraft) Soyuz, well-proven in terms of automatic flight.
The importance of creating a cargo ship was not even discussed. The question was about what it should be like.
Discussed were its size, materials, whichuse it to create it, and the necessary equipment for this. All these questions were very ambiguous, and some remain so until now. The parameters that the Progress ship should have had to be adjusted to the requirements of the cargo and the amount of equipment on board. Developers disagreed about the manned and unmanned versions of the ship.
In the first case, as the main advantageit was indicated that it was possible to return some materials or equipment to the ground. In the second variant, the advantage was the economy: all materials with the results of the studies had to be returned together with the crew. The ship's economy proved to be a priority.
Elements of the ship "Progress" should have beenDeveloped in such a way as to create as less noise for antennas, sensors and solar cells. In addition, obsolete equipment needed to be replaced. And it was necessary to do this as soon as possible. The time of delivery of goods had to be minimized, and also to take into account unforeseen situations. The work of the control system, the orientation and the corrective installation had to be adjusted so that they would provide maneuvers with an orbital station at the proper level.
According to calculations, the optimal dimensions and masscargo ship "Progress" as much as possible with the parameters of the spacecraft "Soyuz". This greatly simplified the work, since it became possible to make full use of the devices, assemblies and structural elements of this ship. It was decided that equipment and materials to be delivered to the station would be placed in a special compartment for cargo. It is sealed and equipped with a docking unit with a hatch to enter the compartment itself. In the instrumental part of the ship there are onboard systems.
In an unsealed compartment, which also hastransport ship "Progress", placed pneumatic systems. Thus, the entry of fuel vapors into the residential compartment was excluded. In the event of leakage of compressed gas, the pressure inside the sealed compartments should not exceed the norm.
The compartment with the units of the propulsion system and the settings: orientational, close and correcting also made the leak.
Designers took into account such moments as the startingthe mass that the Progress ship has, its maximum dimensions with the antennas folded, and the latter should not have been larger in size than those in the Soyuz spacecraft. This would allow us to use for its launch a carrier rocket, which puts orbits into spacecraft.
As a result, the first flight samples were developed. Work on the design documentation, diagrams and operational documents was conducted from 1974 to 1976. The draft design was completed in February 1974, and the first flight model was tested in 1977 after its development in February. For the first time the cargo ship was put into orbit on January 20, 1978.
Initially, Progress, a spaceship for the transport of goods, was created in two copies. Later, the government ordered another 50 pieces.
Between 1978 and 1994 cargo shipstype "Progress" has been used repeatedly for experiments. Among the major studies was the development of the prototype of a radar-based space system for the detection of surface and underwater objects, as well as frame large-size radio antennas, equipment with optics for space communications and reflectors of sunlight from space. On the basis of the GC, the Gamma module, a special automatic astrophysical apparatus, was later created.
Operational experience has shown that the first spacethe Progress M and Progress vehicles were able to constantly provide the orbital stations with the necessary equipment and materials for their long and fruitful work in orbit. Until 1985 they were the only automatic devices.
The cargo ship was created mainly on the basis ofthe design of the Soyuz spacecraft. Nevertheless, he was notable for qualitative characteristics, so he could solve important tasks that were not available to other devices.
Having passed a lengthy inspection of airborne and flight systems, the modifications of the Progress ship confirmed their high reliability. As a result, 27 cargo spacecraft completed the main flight programs.
In addition, the cargo ship has become an effective base for all kinds of research and creation of target modules of the most varied complexity.
On the basis of one of the modifications,The development of a new Progress M-2 GC intended for an international orbital station. It became possible to create transport cargo ships of a larger size using other launch vehicles, such as Zenit.
Moreover, it became realistic to conduct complex maneuvers, research, master new technologies for waste disposal. And all this thanks to the creation of a multi-purpose automatic cargo ship.
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