Progress 53 successfully undocks from the International Space Station

(Progress undocking from the ISS – Photo Credit: Alexander Gerst/ESA)

At 1:29 pm GMT, the ISS Progress 53 resupply craft departed the International Space Station, marking the completion of its second and final undocking from the station since its arrival in late November 2013.

The unpiloted Russian Progress cargo spacecraft undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda service module as the station orbited 260 miles above Mongolia.

The departing ship conducted a 15-second separation burn to move it a safe distance away from the space station.

(Progress 53 seen moving away from the Station – Photo Credit: NASATV)

The craft delivered 2.9 tons of food, fuel and supplies when it docked to the space station on November 29th 2013. Its journey included a “fly-by” of the station two days before it’s arrival in order to test a revamped Kurs automated rendezvous system hardware.

However, because of a technical glitch, unrelated to the new Kurs system, the craft’s approach and docking had to be controlled manually by the station’s crew, who used the Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous Unit.

(Progress pictured leaving the Zvezda docking port – Photo Credit: Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos)

Further testing of the Kurs-NA rendezvous hardware and its associated software occurred months later when Progress 53 undocked from Zvezda on April 23 and successfully performed an automated docking to the same port two days later.

The enhanced Kurs system is set to be incorporated into future Progress vehicles as it will reduce the weight of the vehicle. The updated system will eliminate several navigational antennas, enabling the Progress to carry more supplies to the station.

(Cameras onboard Progress 53 show the ISS as it departs – Photo Credit: NASATV/Roscosmos)

A 3-minute, 16-second deorbit burn is planned for Progress 53 at 4:34 p.m GMT. This will slow the spacecraft down in preparation for its destructive re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, which will occur less than an hour later.

Progress resupply ships are not reusable, therefore Progress 53 was filled with trash and discarded gear which burned up during reentry.

Below is an image of Progress reentering the Earth’s atmosphere just hours after leaving the space station. Expedition 40 flight engineer Alex Gerst captured this image as the Progress passed over the Pacific Ocean. He captioned the image: “Today one of our Progress cargo ships undocked & burned up in atmosphere. The fate of all vehicles w/o heat shield”.

(Photo Credit: Alexander Gerst/ESA)

If you missed the undocking, you can watch it below.