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Progress MS-29 re-supplies ISS

The fourth and final Russian cargo supply mission to the International Space Station, ISS, in 2024, lifted off on a Soyuz-2-1a rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 21. Two days later, Progress MS-29 cargo ship delivered around 2.5 tons of supplies to the 72nd expedition aboard the outpost.

Progress MS-29 mission at a glance:

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Progress MS-29 delivery mission

According to Roskosmos, Progress MS-29 was scheduled to deliver a total of 2,487 kilograms of cargo to the station, including 1,155 kilograms of hardware and equipment for the station, materials for experiments, food, clothing, medical and hygiene supplies in its pressurized cargo compartment. At the same time, the vehicle's refueling module was also filled with 869 kilograms of propellant for the station's propulsion system (INSIDER CONTENT), 420 kilograms of drinking water and 43 kilograms of compressed nitrogen for replenishing the atmosphere of the ISS.

The deliverable payloads included materials and hardware for science experiments and scientific programs identified as Splankh, Lazma, Vzaimodeistvie-2, Separatsiya, Vampir, Fulleren, BTN-Neitron-2, 3D-pechat', according to Roskosmos.

Progress MS-29 launch campaign

In early revisions of the ISS schedule appearing as early as 2014, the final Russian cargo launch to the ISS in 2024 was penciled for October 16, but by 2023, what would become the Progress MS-29 mission drifted to November 2024.

The delivery of the Progress MS-29 spacecraft to the Baikonur launch site was reported on June 17, 2024.

The Soyuz-2-1a launch vehicle for the mission was reported arriving at the Tyuratam railroad junction near Baikonur spaceport on June 25, 2024, aboard a 28-car train also carrying components of the rocket for the Soyuz MS-26 mission.

In one of the first major milestones of the launch campaign, Progress MS-29 was placed into a vacuum chamber at Site 254 in Baikonur on Oct. 11, 2024, for a series of air leak checks which were completed by October 16. The routine testing of the ship's solar panels was performed on Nov. 1, 2024.

By Nov. 11, 2024, the spacecraft went through balancing and weighing and was transported to a fueling facility for loading of pressurized gases and propellant components. The fueling operations were completed by Nov. 12, 2024.

The cargo ship was then returned to its processing building, where it was connected to its launch vehicle adapter on Nov. 14, 2024, and rolled inside its protective fairing on Nov. 15, 2024. The completed payload section was transferred to the vehicle assembly building at Site 31 on November 16, where it was integrated with the Soyuz-2-1a rocket on Nov. 17, 2024. The State Commission then cleared the vehicle for the rollout to the launch pad, which took place on the morning of November 18.

On Nov. 19, 2024, the previous Progress MS-28 cargo ship, then docked at the ISS, performed a previously unscheduled engine firing to avoid "a piece of satellite debris," NASA said. The maneuver raised the station's orbit, but the launch of the Progress MS-29 spacecraft remained unaffected, according to the US space agency. Nevertheless, within 24 hours after the collision avoidance maneuver, the scheduled time of docking between the ISS and the arriving Progress MS-29 on Nov. 23, 2024, was adjusted from 17:40:12 Moscow Time (14:40 GMT) to 17:35:56 Moscow Time (14:35 GMT).

Progress MS-29 launch profile

A Soyuz-2-1a rocket, carrying the Progress MS-29 cargo ship, is set to lifted off from Pad 6 at Site 31 in Baikonur on Nov. 21, 2024, at 15:22:23.197 Moscow Time (7:22 a.m. EST, 12:22 UTC).

Following a vertical liftoff under the combined thrust of the four RD-107 engines on the first stage and the single RD-108 of the second (core) stage, the launch vehicle headed eastward from Baikonur matching its ground track to an orbit inclined 51.67 degrees to the plane of the Equator.

The four first-stage boosters separated 1 minute 58 seconds after liftoff (at 15:24:21 Moscow Time), at an altitude of around 43 kilometers, followed by the split and drop of the two halves of the payload fairing slightly more than a minute later at an altitude of around 91 kilometers (at 15:25:26 Moscow Time; L+183.06 seconds), just above the dense atmosphere and around 200 kilometers downrange. In the meantime, the second stage continued firing until 4 minutes and 47 seconds into the flight, bringing the vehicle to around 143 kilometers above the planet and a speed of around four kilometers per second, some 500 kilometers downrange from the launch site.

The third stage then ignited moments before the separation of the second stage, firing its RD-0110 engine through a lattice structure connecting the two boosters and ensuring a continuous thrust during the separation process. A fraction of a second later, the boosters of the second and third stage parted ways (at 15:27:10 Moscow Time; L+287.42 seconds), the aft cylindrical section of the third stage split into three segments and dropped off, ensuring the fall of the second stage and the aft section into the same area on the ground.

The third stage completed firing its engine and released the cargo ship into an initial parking orbit 8 minutes 49 seconds after liftoff at an altitude of around 194 kilometers at 15:31:12 Moscow Time. The mission targeted the 240.0 by 193.3-kilometer initial orbit with an inclination 51.67 degrees toward the Equator and a period of 88.54 minutes. At the same time, the ISS was projected to be in a 416.808 by 430.333-kilometer orbit, flying over the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of equatorial Africa.

The Russian mission control registered the separation of the spacecraft from the third stage at 15:31:11 Moscow Time, the deployment of the antennas of the RTS radio system aboard the cargo ship at 15:31:27 Moscow Time, deployment of solar panels at 15:31:33 Moscow Time and the deployment of the rendezvous antennas at 15:31:25 Moscow Time.

The routine post-orbital insertion operations scheduled aboard Progress MS-29 included the test of the Kurs rendezvous system from 15:33 to 15:37 Moscow Time and the extension of the probe of the active docking mechanism from 16:58 to 17:10 Moscow Time.

Progress arrival marred by potential contamination issue

Progress MS-29 was scheduled to dock at the zenith (sky-facing) port of the Poisk module, MIM1, a part of the Russian ISS Segment, on Nov. 23, 2024, at 17:35 Moscow Time (9:35 a.m. EST), after a two-day, 34-orbit autonomous flight.

On the first day of the flight, Progress MS-29 performed two engine firings climbing from its initial orbit to a 318.4 by 329.9-kilometer transfer orbit.

Progress MS-29 was scheduled to begin an autonomous rendezvous with the ISS during the cargo ship's 34th orbit, which was expected to have the following parameters: a perigee — 382.336 kilometers and an apogee — 423.237 kilometers. Around the same time, the ISS was flying in a 417.135 by 429.792-kilometer orbit.

As usual, the autonomous rendezvous process included six major orbit-correction maneuvers using the main SKD engine and small DPO thrusters on Nov. 23, 2024:

The autonomous rendezvous process between Progress MS-29 and the ISS was planned according to the following timeline on November 23:

On November 23, at 17:00 Moscow Time, when Progress MS-29 was around 1.5 kilometers from the ISS, cosmonauts Aleksei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner activated the Telerobotic Remote Control System, TORU, aboard the Zvezda Service Module, SM, in the unlikely event of problems with the automated rendezvous system aboard the cargo ship. The TORU system was successfully tested in the next five minutes and put in the so-called "hot backup mode" (or in stand-by) during the rest of the rendezvous and docking.

Progress MS-29 began a 50-degree flyaround of the ISS at around 17:08 Moscow Time from a distance of around 450 meters from the station to align itself with a zenith docking on the Poisk module. At around 17:13 Moscow Time, when the spacecraft was less than 250 meters from the station, Russian mission control cleared the vehicle for the final approach.

Progress MS-29 completed the flyaround at around 17:19 Moscow Time. The spacecraft then performed a roll maneuver ahead of the short period of station keeping at a distance of around 180 meters from the ISS. The final approach was initiated around 17:21 Moscow Time. The cargo ship made contact with the docking port of the Poisk module at 17:31:16 Moscow Time. The subsequent docking process was completed successfully in around five minutes.

Toxic propellant spill might have caused ISS interior contamination

After the successful docking of Progress MS-29 on Nov. 23, 2024, the crew proceeded with routine air leak checks in the docking port and the opening of the hatch between Poisk and the cargo ship, but had to close it immediately due to a toxic smell and possible hazard in the form of droplets, according to communications between US mission control in Houston and the ISS crew in late hours Moscow Time on November 23.

Various systems aboard the ISS were activated to scrub the station's atmosphere from possible contamination, while the hatch of the Poisk module leading into the pressurized cargo compartment of the Progress M-29 spacecraft remained closed. In particular, the Trace Contaminant Control Sub-assembly, TCCS, was turned on aboard the US Segment. The Russian crew was also reported donning protective equipment and activating an extra air-scrubbing system aboard the Russian Segment, which operated for up to half an hour.

US astronaut Don Pettit also reported some "spray paint-like" smell in the Node 3 module of the US Segment, but it was not immediately clear if it had originated from Progress MS-29.

By the end of November 24, NASA issued an official statement confirming the issue with an "odor" and "small droplets" observed after the opening of the hatches, but also said that during the day flight controllers had determined that the air quality inside the station was at normal levels. The US space agency also said that as of the afternoon of November 24, the crew "is working to open the hatch between Poisk and Progress while all other space station operations are proceeding as planned."

On Nov. 25, 2024, NASA said that the hatch into Progress MS-29 had been opened and that the unloading of the cargo ship was proceeding as planned. The US space agency also said that outgassing from materials inside the pressurized cargo section of Progress MS-29 was the likely source of the unusual odor detected earlier.

At the same time, sources within the Russian space industry indicated that the smell (and possibly droplets) could have originated not from the cargo compartment of the newly arrived Progress MS-29, but from the Poisk's docking mechanism after the departure of the previous Progress MS-27 cargo ship on Nov. 19, 2024. In fact, the working hypothesis was that ground control (INSIDER CONTENT) failed to perform a routine purging of propellant lines (INSIDER CONTENT) between the station and Progress MS-27 before its undocking. As a result, highly toxic residue of hypergolic propellant remaining in the lines could easily spill into the main cavity of the docking mechanism on Poisk, once Progress MS-27 undocked from the module, an industry source told RussianSpaceWeb.com. After the arrival of Progress MS-29, the interior of the docking mechanism between the space station and the cargo ship was re-pressurized trapping the propellant residue and letting it into the station after opening of the hatches.

(To be continued)

This page is maintained by Anatoly Zak; last update: December 10, 2024

Page editor: Alain Chabot; Edits: November 20, November 25, November 29, 2024

All rights reserved

Progress MS-29 during pre-launch processing at Site 254 in Baikonur in October 2024. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos

Progress MS-29 is being prepared for integration with its launch vehicle adapter. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos

Payload section of the Progress MS-29 spacecraft is being integrated with the third stage of the Soyuz-2-1a launch vehicle. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos

Soyuz-2-1a rocket with Progress MS-29 rolls out to the launch pad on Nov. 18, 2024. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos

Payload fairing protecting Progress MS-29 separates from the vehicle as seen by a camera aboard the Soyuz-2-a rocket. Click to enlarge. Credit: Roskosmos

Progress MS-29 fires its maneuvering thrusters during approach to the ISS on Nov. 23, 2024, as seen by an ISS camera. Credit: NASA

View of the ISS through an engineering camera aboard Progress MS-29 during a flyaround of the station on Nov. 23, 2024. Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA