
VBK-Raduga
Sign in to saveThe VBK-Raduga capsule was a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment. For return, the capsule would be substituted for the Progress' docking probe before it left the space station, and then after the Progress-M performed its deorbit burn, the capsule was ejected at 120 km altitude to reenter the atmosphere independently. It would then parachute to a landing area in Russia.
Key facts
- Individual space vehicle.name
- VBK-Raduga
- Individual space vehicle.native_name
- МКБ-Радуга
- Individual space vehicle.image
- Raduga|frameless|center|middle|upright=1
- Individual space vehicle.caption
- NASA illustration of a VBK-Raduga ballistic return capsule during final descent to Earth.
- Individual space vehicle.type
- Reentry capsule
- Individual space vehicle.dimensions
- 1.5m long, 60cm diameter
- Individual space vehicle.dry_mass
- 350kg
- Individual space vehicle.launched_from
- Baikonur Cosmodrome
- Individual space vehicle.first_flight_date
- September 27, 1990
- Individual space vehicle.last_flight_date
- April 9, 1995
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 60
- Mass
- 350
- Image
- Raduga capsule at Cité de l'Espace-IMG 1819.jpg
- Length
- 1.5
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- VBK-Raduga
- first flight
- 1990-09-27
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Article
2 sectionsContents
- See also
- References
The VBK-Raduga capsule was a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment. For return, the capsule would be substituted for the Progress' docking probe before it left the space station, and then after the Progress-M performed its deorbit burn, the capsule was ejected at 120 km altitude to reenter the atmosphere independently. It would then parachute to a landing area in Russia.
Each Raduga was about 1.5 m long, 60 cm in diameter, and had an unloaded mass of about 350 kg. It could return about 150 kg of cargo back to Earth. Use of the Raduga reduced the Progress-M's cargo capacity by about 100 kg, to a maximum of about 2400 kg.