Challenges and perspectives of transport cargo vehicles utilization for performing research in free flight

Russian Progress transport cargo vehicles have successfully been used in different space station programs since 1978. At present time, they play an important role in the International Space Station (ISS) project. Main tasks performed by the transport cargo vehicle (TCV) in the station program are the following: refueling of the station, delivery of consumables and equipment, waste removal, station attitude control and orbit correction maneuver execution.