Russian Cargo Ship Docks At ISS On Second Try

FleaPlus writes "Following up on a story from a few days ago about an unmanned Russian cargo ship's initial aborted attempt at docking with the International Space Station, Space.com reports that the vehicle made a second pass on July 4, which succeeded. Russian engineers believe the initial abort was triggered when the (normally reliable) Progress spacecraft detected interference between a remote control system on the ISS and Progress's camera. It successfully docked on the second try by using the autonomous system instead."

Comments

Humans in the loop

[PPH]

Progress spacecraft detected interference between a remote control system on the ISS and Progress's camera. It successfully docked on the second try by using the autonomous system instead.

So the autonomous system beats having humans in the loop. Explain to me why we need people in space again.

Re:Humans in the loop

[selven]

Explain to me why we need people in space again.

Because there are 6.7 billion people on a planet which can only sustain 4-5 billion, and we need to be practicing now if we want to be prepared for when we have to expand to new real estate.

Re:Seems a little funny...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you read the first article you'd know that they tried the automated system the first time but it couldn't hold a targeting lock on the ISS and they decided to abort the attempt.

READING: It Teaches you Stuff!

Idiotic media coverage of a non-event

[damburger]

Progress, like any spacecraft, is a complex system. Things won't always go to plan - that said it has, like a lot of the old Russian hardware, a decent track record. This isn't the first time one has gone a but funky, but it is very far from the first time one has been sent up to a space station.

These things have been supplying stations in LEO since 1978, but to hear the media tell it this is a flaky, experimental piece of equipment just waiting to go wrong, and the failure of just a single docking attempt might put the whole ISS program in danger.

Re:Idiotic media coverage of a non-event

[damburger]

Idiot.

Yes, von Braun *might* have been able to trump Sputnik with a Redstone - but a Redstone is a far smaller rocket, basically just a stretched V-2. Anyone arguing that Redstone is a more advanced rocket than the R-7 series is someone lacking a basic knowledge of rocket science.

Your random googling of PBS documentary is not evidence, you complete tool. The idea that this was some cunning ploy by the US to fool the Russians, and that US rocket technology was simply superior in the late 1950s, is not supported by facts.

You are proposing a completely ridiculous revisionist history, that even NASA and the US government don't hold to. Go to fucking Cape Caneveral you total retard - they will tell you the US didn't start to take the lead until Gemini.