Source: Xinhua

02-06-2009 17:38

MOSCOW, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A Russian cargo spaceship has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and started an autonomous flight, the Mission Control Center outside Moscow said Friday.

A two-day technical experiment will be conducted aboard the Progress M-01M cargo ship during its autonomous flight, a source at the Mission Control was cited as saying by the Itar-Tass news agency.

Specialists will also test its new digital control system to complete "a report on the spacecraft's behavior during the entire flight" from the liftoff to sinking into the ocean, the source said.

The Progress M-01M, the first of the Progress series equipped with a modern digital control system, was launched to the ISS last November. It delivered 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, clothes and equipment, as well as New Year gifts from relatives to the crewmembers working in orbit.

 

Editor:Liu Fang