Progress
Sign in to saveRussian expendable freighter spacecraft
Key facts
- Manufacturer
- Energia
- Country of origin
- Soviet Union / Russia
- Operator
- Roscosmos
- Applications
- Space station cargo resupply
- Spacecraft type
- Cargo
- Launch mass
- 7,440 kg (16,400 lb)
- Payload capacity
- Launch: 2,600 kg (5,700 lb) Disposal: 2,140 kg (4,720 lb)
- Volume
- 7 m (250 cu ft) in cargo section
- Regime
- Low Earth orbit
- Design life
- 240 days when docked to a space station 30 days free flight
- Length
- 7.4 m (24 ft)
- Diameter
- 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in)
- Solar array span
- 10.7 m (35 ft)
- Built
- 186 (as of 22 March 2026)
- Operational
- 2 ( MS-32 , MS-33 )
- Lost
- 3 ( M-12M , M-27M , MS ‑ 04 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- ISS Progress cargo spacecraft.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- service life
- 180
- inception
- 1970-00-00
- first flight
- 1978-01-20
- Commons category
- Progress (spacecraft)
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~14 min read
Article
Progress (Russian: Прогресс) is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft. Originally developed for the Soviet space program and derived from the crewed Soyuz spacecraft, Progress has been instrumental in maintaining long-duration space missions by providing consumables like food, water, and air, as well as maintenance equipment. Since its maiden flight in 1978, Progress has supported various space stations, including Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir, and remains a key resupply vehicle for the International Space Station (ISS).
Each Progress mission delivers thousands of kilograms of supplies in its pressurized module. It also carries water, fuel, and gases to replenish the station's resources and sustain its onboard atmosphere. Beyond resupply duties, a docked Progress can maneuver or reboost the station, countering atmospheric drag and maintaining its operational altitude. When a Progress spacecraft nears the end of its design life, it is loaded with waste, undocked, and deorbited to safely make a destructive reentry in Earth's atmosphere.