Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 23, 2026
2 min readLast updated: March 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleA Progress MS‑33 Russian cargo ship launched on March 22, 2026 to resupply the ISS encountered a failure of one of its KURS‑NA automated docking antennas, forcing manual docking by commander Sergei Kud‑Sverchkov using the TORU backup system. All other systems remain nominal and troubleshooting is un
MOSCOW, March 23 (Reuters) - An unmanned Russian cargo spacecraft has a problem with an antenna so it will have to be manually docked when it reaches the International Space Station (ISS), Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation said in a statement.
A Soyuz-2.1a rocket launched the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft on Sunday from Baikonur in Kazakhstan but a problem with one of the KURS automated rendezvous antennas was identified, Roscosmos said.
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, the current ISS commander, will manually dock the cargo ship on Tuesday at about 13:35 GMT, Roscosmos said.
"A manual approach of ships to the ISS is regularly practiced by cosmonauts in training," said Oleg Kononenko, head of Russia's Cosmonaut Training Center.
NASA said all other systems are operating as normal and that Roscosmos will continue troubleshooting the antenna.
The cargo ship is carrying about 2.5 tonnes of food, water, fuel, oxygen and supplies for the crew aboard the ISS.
There are currently seven crew aboard the ISS including Russians Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikayev and Andrei Fedyaev, U.S. astronauts Christopher Williams, Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, and France's Sophie Adenot.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
A problem with one of the KURS automated rendezvous antennas requires a manual docking procedure.
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, the current ISS commander, will perform the manual docking.
The spacecraft is carrying about 2.5 tonnes of food, water, fuel, oxygen, and supplies for the ISS crew.
No, NASA reports that all other systems are operating as normal.
Manual approaches to the ISS are regularly practiced by cosmonauts during training, according to Roscosmos officials.
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