[2] The thirty-fifth of sixty-four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration,[3] and had the serial number 217.

Progress M-17 was launched at 03:34:13 GMT on 31 March 1993, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

[4] The spacecraft carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-13 and EO-14 crews aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres.

[7] It carried the seventh VBK-Raduga recoverable capsule, however due to the extended duration mission this was returned by Progress M-18.

On 2 March the spacecraft was reactivated and successfully completed a series of manoeuvres to prove that it could still operate after having been in orbit for so long.