Mission type ISS resupply COSPAR ID 2012-004A Spacecraft type Progress-M 11F615A60 Inclination 51.6° Rocket Soyuz-U Decay date 28 April 2012 | Operator Roskosmos SATCAT no. 38073 Launch site Baikonur Site 1/5 Launch date 25 January 2012 Regime Low Earth orbit | |
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Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia Similar Progress M‑15M, Progress M‑16M, Progress M‑13M, Progress M‑11M, Progress M‑08M | ||
Progress M-14M (Russian: Прогресс М-14М), identified by NASA as Progress 46 or 46P, is a Progress spacecraft which was used by Roskosmos to resupply the International Space Station during 2012. The fourteenth Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft, it had the serial number 414 and was built by RKK Energia. Upon its arrival in late January, it delivered supplies to the Expedition 30 crew aboard the space station, where it remained docked until 19 April.
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Launch
Progress M-14M was launched at 23:06 UTC on 25 January 2012. It was launched from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, by a Soyuz-U carrier rocket. In preparation for the launch, the spacecraft was fuelled at Site 31 on 18 January, before being moved to Site 254 for final assembly, and mating with the third stage and fairing. This was mated to the lower stages of the carrier rocket at Site 112 on 23 January, and rolled out to the launch pad at 01:00 UTC on 24 January.
Orbit
About 529 seconds after launch, the spacecraft separated from the Soyuz-U into a low Earth orbit with a target perigee of 193 kilometres (120 mi), apogee of 275 kilometres (171 mi) and 51.66 degrees of inclination.
It spent a little over two days in free-flight, during which time it conducted two main engine burns and a firing of its manoeuvring thrusters to raise its orbit before docking with the Pirs module of the International Space Station on 28 January at around 00:09 UTC; the docking port having been vacated by Progress M-13M on 23 January.
Progress M-14M undocked on 19 April 2012 at 11:04 GMT from the Pirs Module, making way for Progress M-15M. Unlike most Progress departures, Progress M-14M will spend additional time on orbit in order to carry out the "Radar-Progress" experiment, sounding the ionospheric environment as modified by thruster firings. The experiment will be conducted by the Siberian Institute of Solar-Earth Physics of the Russian Academy of Science. The radar participating in the experiment is located in the Irkutsk region in southern Siberia.
The Progress M-14M spacecraft will deorbited on April 28 at around 13:46 GMT and sank in the Pacific Ocean upon its reentry.