(7 Jul 1997) Natural Sound
Mission accomplished - the Progress cargo ship successfully docked with Russia's battered Mir space station on Monday.
The cargo ship is carrying essential repair parts needed to fix Mir after a collision with a similar ship left it damaged and relying on solar power.
It was a feat of precision and timing.
The Progress cargo ship journeyed towards the landing pad of the Mir space station - seen here as a black cross on a white square .
Flight controllers at Mission Control just outside Moscow, could be heard counting down the distance as Progress neared its destination - 'six metres, five metres.....'
After 11 years in space, Mir has now docked with 78 cargo ships, and it's normally a routine affair.
But a practice docking attempt with a previous cargo ship poked a hole in Mir's Spektr module on June 25th and since then, Mir has been running on reduced power.
This docking was carried out under automatic pilot.
The Spektr module has been sealed off from the rest of the spacecraft, and there have been renewed questions about safety aboard the ageing Mir.
It takes the Mir crew about an hour before they can open the hatch and begin removing the more than 2 tons of supplies on the cargo ship, which include food, water, oxygen and technical gear.
The two Russian cosmonauts and one American on board Mir will need about 10 days to familiarise themselves with the repair equipment before entering the Spektr module.
The Progress cargo ship was launched Saturday from Russia's Baikonur space complex in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan.
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