Tag: Russia
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Roscosmos Continues Pre-launch Preparations for the Progress MS-14 Spacecraft
Preparations for the flight of Progress MS-14 are continuing inside its Baikonur facility. Work included checkouts of the vehicle’s solar array panels and fueling of the spacecraft. Roscosmos is targetting the launch of the resupply mission to the ISS on April 25. The Progress (spelled “Прогресс” in Russian) spacecraft has been a workhorse resupply spacecraft…
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U.S. officials condemn Russian anti-satellite test
A visualization of space debris in low Earth orbit. Credit: NASA The U.S. military’s chief of space operations rebuked a test of a Russian anti-satellite missile Wednesday, although the test did not apparently target and destroy a spacecraft in orbit. In a statement, U.S. Space Command said it was aware of a test Wednesday of…
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Russia conducts first Soyuz 2.1a human launch; MS-16 crew arrives at Station
For the first time since 2002, humans departed for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan on a rocket other than the veteran Soyuz-FG, which was retired last year. Now, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket took up crew launch duties for the Russian element of crew support for the Station. The Soyuz MS-16 three-person crew lifted off…
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Soyuz MS-16 on track for April launch amid COVID-19 response
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Roscosmos and NASA are making preparations for the launch of Soyuz MS-16 and three new crewmembers for the International Space Station while working within new constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The mission is set to launch on April 9, 2020 at 04:05 EDT (08:05 UTC) from Site 31/6…
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Soyuz ST-A Falcon Eye-2 launch delayed by a month
The launch of the Soyuz ST-A flight VS-24 carrying the Falcon Eye-2 satellite has been delayed from it’s March 6 launch date due to a malfunction on the Fregat-M upper stage. It is understood the mission will be delayed a month in total, with a preliminary launch target noted as April 6. Falcon Eye-2 is…
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Soyuz rocket launches Russian military satellite after one-month delay
Video credit: Russian Ministry of Defense A Russian military communications satellite rode a Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage Thursday into an orbit stretching nearly 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) above Earth, successfully launching after a one-month delay to replace a suspect third stage on the Soyuz booster. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off with a Meridian…
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Progress docking marks second cargo ship arrival at space station in two days
The Progress MS-13 spacecraft moves in for docking Monday at the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now An automated Progress cargo freighter docked with the International Space Station Monday to deliver 2.7 tons of supplies, fuel, water and oxygen to the orbiting research complex. The Progress MS-13 spacecraft concluded a three-day pursuit of the…
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Russia launches space surveillance satellite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Nov. 26 with video and orbital elements. A modified Soyuz rocket delivered a top secret Russian military payload into orbit Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, according to the country’s defense ministry. The mission lifted off from the Site 43 launch complex at Plesetsk at 1752 GMT (12:52 p.m. EST;…
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German X-ray telescope achieves ‘first light’
This image shows our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, observed in a series of exposures with all seven eROSITA telescope modules taken Oct. 18 to Oct. 19, 2019. The diffuse emission originates from the hot gas between the stars with temperatures typically a few million degrees. The more compact nebulous structures in the image…
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The world’s space agencies focus in on their roles for Gateway moon missions
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is surrounded by top officials from other space agencies as he talks about what lies ahead for NASA and its partners on the final frontier. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Not everyone has signed on the dotted line to join NASA’s plan to start sending astronauts to the…