Tag: Russia
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Rocket Report: “No man’s land” in rocket wars; Isaacman lukewarm on SLS
Welcome to Edition 7.39 of the Rocket Report! Not getting your launch fix? Buckle up. We’re on the cusp of a boom in rocket launches as three new megaconstellations have either just begun or will soon begin deploying thousands of satellites to enable broadband connectivity from space. If the megaconstellations come to fruition, this will…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Firefly set to launch amid busy launch manifest
This week, a busy launch manifest saw SpaceX launch the Crew-10 and two Starlink missions from Florida and the delayed SPHEREx/PUNCH and Transporter 13 missions from California. Outside of the United States, Rocket Lab flew an Electron from New Zealand. A Chang Zhang 8 rocket launched from a new commercial pad in China which also…
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Russia just launched the 2,000th Semyorka rocket—it’s both a triumph and tragedy
The Russian space program reached a significant milestone over the holidays with the 2,000th launch of a rocket from the “R-7” family of boosters. The launch took place on Christmas Day when an R-7 rocket lifted off, carrying a remote-sensing satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This family of rockets has an incredible heritage dating back…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX, China, and Russia maintain busy launch manifests through the holidays
At the start of this week, Monday, Dec. 23, there had been 24 launch attempts worldwide. There was no let-up during the holiday period, with six further launch attempts taking place. The SpaceX launch manifest for this week included a single customer payload and three batches of Starlink satellites. SpaceX’s target of 136 launches for…
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Russian space chief says country will fly on space station until 2030
In a wide-ranging interview with a Russian television station, the chief executive of Russia’s main space corporation said the country is now planning to participate in the International Space Station project all the way to NASA’s desired goal of 2030. “In coordination with our American colleagues, we plan to de-orbit the station sometime around the…
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Launch Roundup: Sentinel 1C and PROBA 3 among ten planned launches
This week is busy in spaceflight, with 10 orbital launches planned throughout the week. China has, as expected, continued its launch cadence from last week with three more launches this week. SpaceX planned to launch five Falcon 9 missions in five days with the launches of four Starlink missions and one customer payload but has…
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Launch Roundup: ZhuQue-2E and Chang Zheng 12 take first flights; SpaceX launches classified mission
This week Landspace debuted the enhanced version of its ZhuQue-2 rocket and the Chang Zheng 12 rocket has also taken its maiden flight. Roscosmos has launched one of two planned Soyuz missions – the highly classified mission from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome has now been delayed until next week. In contrast, four Falcon 9 missions are…
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After Russian ship docks to space station, astronauts report a foul smell
It should have been a routine mission to ferry about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the International Space Station, but when Russian cosmonauts opened the hatch to a cargo spacecraft on Saturday, they got a surprise—a toxic smell. “After opening the Progress spacecraft’s hatch, the Roscosmos cosmonauts noticed an unexpected odor and…
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Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine portends new era of warfare
Two days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a change in the country’s policy for employing nuclear weapons in conflict. Then, on Thursday, Russia attacked the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new type of ballistic missile capable of one day delivering multiple nuclear warheads to distant targets with little warning. Putin says his ballistic…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 launches continue, Rocket Lab to launch two Electrons, Russia to fly to ISS
Following the sixth flight of SpaceX’s Starship on Tuesday, eight additional orbital launches were planned worldwide. Rocket Lab launched an experimental hypersonic testbed payload using a modified Electron from Wallops. What’s more, a second Electron launched a batch of nanosatellites into low-Earth orbit from New Zealand less than 24 hours later. Meanwhile, SpaceX continued to…