BAIKONUR. June 15 (Interfax) - Russia will try to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) within the shortest time ever in July, a source in the Baikonur Cosmodrome told Interfax.
"Russia's Progress MS-09 resupply ship will be launched from Baikonur at 12:51 a.m. on July 10. It is supposed to be the world's first cargo spaceship to reach the ISS within three hours and 40 minutes. In this case, the crew will be able to start unpacking the cargo as early as at 4:39 p.m. Moscow time," the source said.
The special mission's date has been precisely calculated, he said.
"A whole range of ballistic conditions are required for the spaceship's taking a shortcut to the ISS. If the first attempt fails, the ship will be able to depart on the alternate date, two days later, and have the traditional two-day journey," the source said.
Once the rapid cargo delivery to orbit is tested, the route could be used by cosmonauts, the source said. It would be a two round-the-Earth turns journey, compared to the traditional travel of about 50 hours.
The Progress mission scheduled for February 11 was moved to the alternate date, February 13. A representative of the Baikonur Cosmodrome told Interfax that the launch of a Soyuz 2.1a LV coupled with the Progress MS-08 was delayed because of the failure of a spaceship computer's channel. "One of the three channels of the spaceship's computer has failed. It [the computer] was replaced," the source said.