MOSCOW, June 12 (RIA Novosti) – An unmanned Russian space freighter successfully undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday evening despite a malfunctioning antenna, Russia’s Mission Control said.
The navigation antenna KURS actually deployed after undocking, a task that it failed to do at reaching the ISS on April 26, Spaceflight101.com said.
KURS had no purpose after the Progress-M-19M freighter docked with the ISS, but there were fears that the improperly positioned antenna could damage the docking ring of the station, the report said.
No damage to the station was reported so far. The freighter will spend another eight days in space to conduct a geophysical experiment before disorbiting, Mission Control said.