Tag: Russia
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Russian Elektro-L weather satellite launched on Proton-M
At 09:12 UTC on Feb. 5, 2023, a Proton-M launched from Site 81/24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the fourth Elektro-L satellite to geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). Sunday’s launch is the first of up to three Proton launches planned for 2023, with the next being Olymp-K 2 scheduled for March. The Proton-M launcher is nearing…
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Russian space program facing challenges ahead of ambitious 2023
In the new year, Russia plans to launch its first probe to the Moon since 1976, debut a new member of the Soyuz rocket family, and launch the new Soyuz GVK resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). 2022 proved to be a slow year for the Russian launch cadence, with one Proton-M launch,…
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Soyuz MS-22 suffers coolant leak, canceling Russian spacewalk
A planned spacewalk aboard the International Space Station on the evening of Dec. 14 involving cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin was canceled due to a coolant leak aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. The leak began around 7:45 PM EST on Dec. 14 (00:45 UTC on Dec. 15) when controllers in both Houston and Moscow…
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Soyuz-2.1b launches from Plesetsk carrying Lotos-S satellite
A Russian Soyuz-2.1b rocket was launched from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Dec. 1 at 12:10 AM Moscow time (21:10 UTC on Nov. 30). Onboard was likely a Lotos-S electronic intelligence satellite for the Russian military. There is a possibility that additional payloads are to be deployed by the primary satellite later, based…
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Soyuz-2.1b launches final GLONASS-M satellite from Plesetsk
At 15:17 UTC on Nov. 28, a Soyuz-2.1b launched from Site 43/3 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, carrying the final GLONASS-M satellite to orbit, designated Kosmos-2564. This is the first of two planned launches from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in just three days, with a classified payload scheduled to launch onboard a Soyuz-2.1a on Wednesday, Nov. 30.…
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Expedition 68 completes first full month with new crew and cargo
October 2022 was once again a busy month aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Several spacecraft movements completed the transition between Expedition 67 and 68 and saw new supplies delivered to the Russian Orbital Segment. Against this backdrop, the essential work of the station — furthering humanity’s understanding of science — has continued with the…
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Russia launches Tundra missile warning satellite from Plesetsk
At 06:48 UTC on Nov. 2, Russia’s Soyuz-2.1b launched from Site 43/4 at Plesetsk Cosmodrome, carrying the sixth satellite of Russia’s next-generation early warning system. Upon reaching orbit, the spacecraft was designated as Kosmos-2563. The Tundra series of satellites, also known as Kupol or Edinaya Kosmicheskaya Sistema (EKS) satellites, is the next generation of Russian…
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Progress MS-21 launches and docks to ISS on resupply mission
Roscosmos launched Progress MS-21 atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, at 8:20 PM EDT on Oct. 25 (00:20 UTC on Oct. 26). After launching from Site 31/6 in Baikonur, the Progress MS-21 spacecraft conducted a standard two-day autonomous rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). This comes after the then-head of…
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Soyuz-2.1b launches Gonets trio and Skif demo satellite
Four Russian satellites have made their way into orbit, including an experimental mission that could compete with SpaceX’s Starlink internet constellation. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from Site 1S at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia at 10:57 PM Moscow Time (19:57 UTC). Onboard were the Gonets-M No. 33, 34, and 35 satellites as well…
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Soyuz-2.1v launches satellite pair after multi-day delay
At 19:20 UTC on Oct. 21, Russia’s Soyuz-2.1v rocket launched from Site 43/4 at Plesetsk Cosmodrome, carrying a classified payload to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The mission was originally scheduled for launch on Oct. 18 but was delayed three days for unspecified reasons. On board Soyuz-2.1v was a pair of satellites named Kosmos-2561 and Kosmos-2562,…