Roscosmos desires to speed up its shipments to the International Space Station.The Russian area agency released a proposition to allow its Progress freight ships to arrive in a single orbit, which would imply things would show up at the orbiting complex just 2 hours after launch, the agency said.A statement on Roscosmos site says the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (a part of the space company) got a patent Nov. 12 for a single-orbit cargo flight.Related: How Russias Progress spaceships work (infographic)Testing of some components began before the patent was issued, during the Progress MS-17 freight flight in June and July 2021, Roscosmos stated, without providing further detail. That timeline assumes that all screening goes to prepare and that the brand-new orbit is approved.Three spaceships are pictured connected to various ports on the International Space Station: Northrop Grummans Cygnus NG-15 freight ship at the Harmony module (left), the Soyuz MS-17 team spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module (center) and the Progress 77 cargo craft at the Pirs docking compartment (right). Both Progress and the crewed Soyuz ships were enabled to fly to the International Space Station utilizing a four-orbit (six-hour) flight strategy starting in 2012 and 2013, respectively, Roscosmos said.The shorter timespan was specifically helpful for teams, Roscosmos stated, as it “allowed cosmonauts to get used to the adverse elements of weightlessness in comfy conditions on the ISS.
