Progress (Spacecraft)

Progress is a Russian expendable cargo spacecraft derived from the crewed Soyuz. It was designed by the Korolev bureau, then called TsKBEM and now RKK Energia, and first flew in January 1978 to supply the Salyut 6 station, later serving Salyut 7, Mir and the International Space Station. It has a pressurised cargo section built from the Soyuz orbital module, an unpressurised tanker section carrying propellant, water and gases, and an instrumentation and propulsion section that can also reboost the station. Without a reentry module, heat shield or parachutes it carries more cargo than Soyuz, and at the end of its stay it is filled with waste and burns up on reentry.