Following its autonomous, three-day near-earth orbital flight, Russian Progress M-58 transport cargo vehicle has docked with the International Space Station (ISS). During the docking process, telemetry sensors indicated that one of the antennas of the Kurs rendezvous system as part of the cargo vehicle failed to close completely.
The retraction process was suspended until the situation was made clear. The specialists from the Lead Operational Control Team (LOCT) looked into the situation and decided to continue retraction. For safety reasons, the crew of ISS Expedition 14th was commanded to close the Transfer Compartment hatch.
During the next communication session, the docking operation was successfully completed.
The operations of the Progress M-58/ISS rendezvous and docking were performed under the control of RSC Energia's President, General Designer on manned space complexes and Technical Manager in charge of flight tests N.N. Sevastiyanov as well as RSC Energia's Vice-President, ISS Russian Segment Flight Director V.A. Solovyov. There were both working from the Mission Control Center (MCC-M) which is situated near Moscow.
The Progress M-58 cargo vehicle has delivered some 2-4 tons of various cargoes to the ISS including 880kg of propellant and 52kg oxygen. Cargoes of 1221kg by mass were accommodated in the pressurized compartment and included 237kg of food products, medical equipment, personal hygiene products, 304kg USOS equipment, onboard systems and research equipment, onboard documentation and crew parcels.
