Pirs and Progress goodbye

Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.

The Pirs docking compartment (also called DC-1) left the Space Station together with the Progress MS-16 cargo spacecraft after 20 years of service and burned up safely in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean on 26 July 2021 . Its departure made room for the Nauka science module.

Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:

“Here’s a timelapse of DC1’s re-entry last week, together with its tow truck, Progress 77P, seen from above. Atmospheric re-entry without a heat shield results in a nice fireball (you clearly see smaller pieces of melting metal floating away and adding to the fireworks). This timelapse is sped up, we could observe the fireball for around six minutes. Next time you see a shooting star, it might be our ISS trash getting burnt up… Not sure it will be granted in that case, but you never know, I’d still advise to go ahead and make a wish.

Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.

Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.

Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.