Progress M-18

{{Short description|Russian uncrewed cargo spacecraft}}

{{Infobox spaceflight

| name = Progress M-18

| image =

| image_caption =

| mission_type = Mir resupply

| operator =

| COSPAR_ID = 1993-034A

| SATCAT =

| mission_duration =

| spacecraft_type = Progress-M 11F615A55

| manufacturer = NPO Energia

| dry_mass =

| launch_mass = {{convert|7250|kg|lb}}

| launch_date = {{start-date|22 May 1993, 06:41:47|timezone=yes}} UTC

| launch_rocket = Soyuz-U2

| launch_site = Baikonur Site 1/5

| disposal_type = Deorbited

| decay_date = {{end-date|4 July 1993}}

| orbit_epoch =

| orbit_reference = Geocentric

| orbit_regime = Low Earth

| orbit_periapsis = {{convert|388|km}}

| orbit_apoapsis = {{convert|390|km}}{{cite web|url=http://www.planet4589.org/space/log/satcat.txt|title=Satellite Catalog|last=McDowell|first=Jonathan|publisher=Jonathan's Space Page|access-date=2009-09-02}}

| orbit_inclination = 51.6 degrees

| orbit_period =

| apsis = gee

| docking =

{{Infobox spaceflight/Dock

| docking_target = Mir

| docking_type = dock

| docking_port = Core Forward

| docking_date = 24 May 1993, 08:24:44 UTC

| undocking_date = 3 July 1993, 15:58:16 UTC

| time_docked = 40 days

}}

| cargo_mass =

| cargo_mass_press =

| cargo_mass_fuel =

| cargo_mass_gas =

| cargo_mass_water =

}}

Progress M-18 ({{langx|ru|Прогресс М-18|italic=yes}}) was a Russian cargo uncrewed spacecraft which was launched in 1993 to resupply the Mir space station.{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1993-034A|title=Progress M-18|publisher=US National Space Science Data Center|work=NSSDC Master Catalog|access-date=2009-09-02}} The thirty-sixth of sixty four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration,{{cite web|url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/progress-m.htm|title=Progress-M 1 - 13, 15 - 37, 39 - 67 (11F615A55, 7KTGM)|first=Gunter|last=Krebs|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=2009-09-02}} and had the serial number 218.{{cite web|url=http://planet4589.org/space/log/launchlog.txt|title=Launch Log|last=McDowell|first=Jonathan|publisher=Jonathan's Space Page|access-date=2009-09-02}} It carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-13 crew aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres.

Progress M-18 was launched at 06:41:47 GMT on 22 May 1993, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was the last Progress spacecraft to be launched on a Soyuz-U2. Following two days of free flight, it docked with the Forward port of Mir's core module at 08:24:44 GMT on 24 May.{{cite web|url=http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/cargoes/prm18.sht|first=Alexander|last=Anikeev|publisher=Manned Astronautics - Figures & Facts|title=Cargo spacecraft "Progress M-18"|access-date=2009-09-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009101010/http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/cargoes/prm18.sht|archive-date=2007-10-09}}{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proressm.htm|title=Progress M|last=Wade|first=Mark|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=2009-09-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710175743/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proressm.htm|archive-date=2009-07-10}}

During the 40 days for which Progress M-18 was docked, Mir was in an orbit of around {{convert|388|by|390|km|nmi}}, inclined at 51.6 degrees. Progress M-18 undocked from Mir at 15:58:16 GMT on 3 July; less than half an hour before Soyuz TM-17 docked with the port which it had vacated. It was deorbited around a day later, to a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean. Before undocking, a VBK-Raduga capsule launched aboard Progress M-17 had been installed on Progress M-18, and this separated once the deorbit burn was complete. The capsule landed successfully at 17:13 GMT.