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NASA Says Russian Craft Makes Way For Shuttle Carrying Robot


The Russian humanoid robot Skybot F-850, known as FEDOR, being tested ahead of its flight.
The Russian humanoid robot Skybot F-850, known as FEDOR, being tested ahead of its flight.

A Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft with three astronauts inside has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS)’s Poisk module, NASA said in an August 26 blog.

The maneuver, crewed by Aleksandr Skvortsov of Roscosmos, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and Andrew Morgan of NASA, finished the relocation move shortly before midnight on August 25.

It freed the port for an unpiloted Soyuz MS-14 that currently “is on a safe trajectory above and behind the space station to execute a second docking attempt” to the Zvezda port on August 26, NASA wrote.

The Soyuz MS-14 is carrying an experimental robot and supplies but failed to dock with the ISS on August 24.

It was unable to lock onto guidance signals, prompting Russian flight controllers to abort the mission.

Russia's Roskosmos space agency has said that renewed attempts by the spaceship would be made on August 27.

The Russian FEDOR anthropomorphic mechanism that is aboard the MS-14 reportedly should assist ISS crew members with minor tasks.

Russia hopes that future models of FEDOR, an acronym for the Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, will be developed to carry out extravehicular activities.

The unpiloted spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on August 21 on a test flight of FEDOR and the shuttle's revamped Soyuz booster rocket.

It is supposed to deliver around a ton of cargo to the three MS-13 crew members.

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