The VBK-Raduga capsule was a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment. For return, the capsule would be substituted for the Progress' docking probe before it left the space station, and then after the Progress-M performed its deorbit burn, the capsule was ejected at 120 km altitude to reenter the atmosphere independently. It would then parachute to a landing area in Russia.
Each Raduga was about 1.5 m long, 60 cm in diameter, and had an unloaded mass of about 350 kg. It could return about 150 kg of cargo back to Earth. Use of the Raduga reduced the Progress-M's cargo capacity by about 100 kg, to a maximum of about 2400 kg.
The European Space Agency studied a very similar system called PARES (Payload Retrieval System), for use in combination with the Automated Transfer Vehicle.
Capsule Launch date Carried by NotesVBK-Raduga 1 27 September 1990 Progress M-5 VBK-Raduga 2 19 March 1991 Progress M-7 Lost on reentryVBK-Raduga 3 20 August 1991 Progress M-9 VBK-Raduga 4 17 October 1991 Progress M-10 VBK-Raduga 5 19 April 1992 Progress M-12 VBK-Raduga 6 15 August 1992 Progress M-14 VBK-Raduga 7 31 March 1993 Progress M-17 Capsule returned by Progress M-18VBK-Raduga 8 10 August 1993 Progress M-19 VBK-Raduga 9 11 October 1993 Progress M-20 VBK-Raduga 10 22 March 1994 Progress M-23 9 April 1995 Progress M-27
See also HTV Small Re-entry Capsule
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