Good Orbit for Progress M-29M
The Progress M-29M spacecraft en-route to the International Space Station has been delivered to an accurate orbit that will permit the spacecraft to proceed with the planned express rendezvous taking just over six hours from launch to docking.
Progress M-29M blasted off atop a Soyuz U rocket at 16:49:40.648 UTC, heading into orbit from Baikonur’s historic Site 1/5. The eight-minute and 49-second ascent mission was nominal according to real-time calls made by the launch team and Progress began executing its early mission events after separating from the booster. Docking to the Zvezda module of ISS is set for 22:54 UTC.
The Russian Mission Control Center provided the following orbital insertion parameters for Progress M-29M, based on radio tracking in the minutes following separation from the Soyuz:
193.78 x 245.42 km - 51.66° - 88.58min
These parameters are within the operational margins issued for this mission:
193 (+7/-15) x 245 (+/-42) Kilometers, 51.66° (+/-0,06°), 88.58 min (+/- 0.37)
It should be noted that Russian ballistics specialists use a different orbital calculation method than the Joint Space Operations Center.
JSpOC published the following orbital parameters related to this launch (2015-055):
2015-055A - 196.5 x 247.4 km - 51.59° 2015-055B - 183.6 x 223.7 km - 51.66°
A second element set for Progress M-29M was published later in the evening with an Epoch of 19:55:33 UTC, confirming that orbital maneuvers have been successful thus far:
2015-055A - 308.1 x 337.3 km - 51.64°
