Space freighter flipped to manual for ISS dock Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka took control of an unmanned supply capsule docking at the International Space Station this morning after the spacecraft's automated docking system botched its final approach. From aboard the ISS, Padalka remotely steered Russia's Progress 34 (P34) cargo craft to a smooth coupling with the aft …
Doing this "Steer the Progress from the station" trick was how the Russians crashed a Progress into a Mir back in the nineties. If the Russian automatics are bog useless (as they appear to be) then they should be steered into place using either an on-board pilot or warped into dock using some sort of piloted tug.
Of course, all automatics misbehave when in space, which is why humans should be there to whack them with a fist when they wobble.
They'll have none of that expensive one-use automated docking crap, with all the heavy radars and lasers and crap. HTV will get up "close 'enuf" and have the station arm bring it in.
The Progress docking stuff is so expensive, that the Russians take it off before ditching them, and have Shuttle or Soyuz take it back down for re-use. And as we can see, it works really well.
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