VBK-Raduga

NASA illustration of a VBK-Raduga ballistic return capsule during final descent to Earth.

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.[1]

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.[citation needed]

The European Space Agency studied a very similar system called PARES (Payload Retrieval System), for use in combination with the Automated Transfer Vehicle.[2]

Capsule | Launch date | Carried by | Notes

|
|
|

VBK-Raduga 1 | 27 September 1990 | Progress M-5 |
VBK-Raduga 2 | 19 March 1991 | Progress M-7 | Lost on reentry
VBK-Raduga 3 | 20 August 1991 | Progress M-9 |
VBK-Raduga 4 | 17 October 1991 | Progress M-10 |
VBK-Raduga 5 | 19 April 1992 | Progress M-12 |
VBK-Raduga 6 | 15 August 1992 | Progress M-14 |
VBK-Raduga 7 | 31 March 1993 | Progress M-17 | Capsule returned by Progress M-18
VBK-Raduga 8 | 10 August 1993 | Progress M-19 |
VBK-Raduga 9 | 11 October 1993 | Progress M-20 |
VBK-Raduga 10 | 22 March 1994 | Progress M-23 |
| 9 April 1995 | Progress M-27[3] |

## See also

* HTV Small Re-entry Capsule

## References

1. ↑ "VBK-Raduga". Gunter's Space Page. http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vbk-raduga.htm.
2. ↑ "PARES to complete study phase". Flight International. 5 April 2005. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pares-to-complete-study-phase-196173/.
3. ↑ McDonald, Sue (December 1998). "Mir Mission Chronicle". NASA JSC. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19990019365.

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Mir

Soviet modules|

* Core module
* Kvant-1
* Kvant-2
* Kristall

Russian/American modules|

* Spektr
* Docking module
* Priroda

Other subsystems|

* Lyappa arm
* Strela crane
* APAS-89
* Luch satellites
* Mir Environmental Effects Payload

Visiting spacecraft|

* Soyuz
* Progress (VBK-Raduga)
* Space Shuttle

Other articles|

* Shuttle-Mir programme
* Deorbit of Mir
* MirCorp

Related lists|

* List of human spaceflights to Mir
* List of uncrewed spaceflights to Mir
* List of Mir expeditions
* List of Mir spacewalks
* List of Mir visitors

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