Roscosmos has announced the date of undocking of the Progress MS-28 cargo ship from the International Space Station (ISS). The space vehicle will leave the orbital complex on February 25 to make way for the next “cargo”, which is preparing for launch at Baikonur.
At the end of last week, Russian cosmonauts carried out work aboard the ISS before the undocking of Progress MS-28. Among other things, they prepared for loading into the ship equipment that will be disposed of along with the “truck” when it burns up in the upper atmosphere.
In place of the old cargo ship will arrive new – “Progress MS-30”. It has already passed the control weighing and balancing in the assembly and test building of the 254th site of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, after which specialists began to refuel it with fuel components and compressed gases. After that, preparation of the space vehicle will continue at the launch pad. Its launch is scheduled for February 28 using a Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle.
In April, the Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz MS-27 is also scheduled to launch from Baikonur – the same Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle will be used to put it into orbit. The crew of the 73rd long-term expedition will be sent to the ISS: Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky, as well as American astronaut Jonathan Kim.
After the arrival of the new manned spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-26 will leave the orbital complex, bringing Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Wagner and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit back to Earth.
Since the beginning of 2025, Roscosmos has decided to increase the duration of Soyuz MS manned spacecraft flights. Now they will remain docked to the ISS for 7-9 months. This will save one ship every two years.
