MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The Energia rocket and space corporation considers December 24 to be the optimal date for launching the Progress-M51 cargo spacecraft, a corporation spokesman said on Thursday.
"Experts of the Energia corporation have analyzed several variants of launching the Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). December 24 is considered the optimal date," the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The Progress was originally supposed to lift off from Baikonur on December 23 in order to deliver the next batch of fuel and cargo to the ISS. However the ISS failed to reach the designated orbit during the latest correction attempt on November 17, and the launch date had to be revised. The commission investigating the incident has not yet made public its conclusions concerning failure causes.
No more orbit corrections are planned before December 24, the spokesman said. "The Progress flight, its approximation and docking to the ISS will be performed on a regular scenario, i.e. within two days," he stressed.
Any other launch date will require the use of the three-day scenario, the spokesman noted.
At the same time, he said that the final decision on the launch date will not be made until November 29.
The Progress-M51 will deliver nearly three tonnes of various cargoes, including fuel, oxygen, water and foodstuffs, to the ISS, where Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and U.S. astronaut Leroy Chiao are working.