On April 27, 2021, at 23:11:30 UTC, the Progress MS-14 transport cargo vehicle undocked nominally from the Zvezda module of the Russian segment of the International Space Station into autonomous flight for just over a day.
After moving it to a safe distance from the station, specialists of the Chief Operational Control Group of the Russian segment of the ISS (Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, part of Roscosmos) began to control its flight. They tested the new ship orientation system during its deorbit.
In accordance with the program of the onboard computer, on commands from the TsNIIMash Mission Control Center (part of Roscosmos), at 00:01 UTC, the main engine was turned on for braking. After burning for 4 minutes, it gave the freighter a braking impulse of 120 m/s, the Progress MS-14 left the near-earth orbit and ceased to exist. Fragments of the spacecraft that were not burnt in the Earth’s atmosphere fell at 00:42:27 UTC at the ‘cemetery of spaceships’ in the non-navigable region of the South Pacific, 3,150 kilometers from the city of Wellington (New Zealand).
The Progress MS-14 cargo vehicle was launched to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 25, 2020. It ensured 10 ISS orbit adjustments, two of them unscheduled to avoid ‘space debris’. In addition, he set the record for the longest flight in low-Earth orbit for ships of this family. Before that, it belonged to the Progress M-17 spacecraft, which was part of the Mir station in 1993-1994 for 337 days. The Progress MS-14 flight lasted 369 days.
Currently, the Russian segment of the International Space Station includes the Progress MS-16 cargo vehicle, which was launched on February 15, 2021. The next launch of the Russian freighter is scheduled for mid-summer this year. In early May, the preparation of the Progress MS-17 cargo vehicle for the upcoming launch will begin at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.