Tag: Russia
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Trend or aberration? Russia is launching foreign satellites again
For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine essentially cut off Russia’s space industry from foreign customers, a Russian rocket lifted off Tuesday and carried satellites into orbit with commercial technology from Western companies. The payloads from companies based in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg flew on a satellite owned by the United Arab…
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Launch Roundup: Virgin Galactic performs crewed suborbital mission; SpaceX launches Euclid
Four launches are planned for the week of June 24 to July 1. The Russians opened the launches, with a Meteor weather satellite riding a Soyuz rocket on Tuesday, June 27, while Virgin Galactic flew its Galactic 01 crewed suborbital mission Thursday, June 29. Firefly’s Alpha rocket was thought to be making its first operational…
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Soyuz 2.1a launches Kondor-FKA n°1 satellite from Vostochny
At 21:14 UTC on May 26, a Soyuz 2.1a rocket launched from Site 1S at Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. Onboard the Soyuz was the Kondor-FKA n°1 satellite, which was lofted to a Sun-synchronous orbit. The Kondor satellites are a series of Earth observation satellites that provide reconnaissance services for the Russian military. Kondor Satellites The…
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Russian supply ship launches to International Space Station
A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Wednesday with the Progress MS-23 cargo ship. Credit: Roscosmos Russia’s Progress MS-23 cargo freighter launched Wednesday from Kazakhstan on a mission hauling more than 2.7 tons of fuel, food, experiments, and supplies to the International Space Station. The Progress MS-23 supply ship lifted off at 8:56:07…
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Seized property at Baikonur threatens Soyuz-5 program
In early March 2023, reports began to circulate that Kazakhstan had seized the property of Roscosmos at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This has raised questions regarding launch operations from the spaceport, including important crew and cargo logistics flights for the International Space Station (ISS). However, it is likely that the development of the Soyuz-5 rocket, as…
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Russia launches classified payload from Plesetsk on Soyuz-2.1v
At 19:57 UTC on Wednesday, March 29, Russia’s Soyuz-2.1v rocket launched from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, carrying an unknown payload designated Kosmos-2568 to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The identity of the payload is unknown, but it may be another inspector satellite, similar to one flown on a previous Soyuz-2.1v launch. If Kosmos-2568 is…
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Damaged Soyuz MS-22 craft returns home uncrewed
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, which launched Expedition 68 crewmembers Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and NASA’s Frank Rubio on Sept. 21, 2022, returned to Earth in automated mode after suffering a leak in a coolant loop last December. Cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin were preparing to conduct an EVA on the Russian segment of the…
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Damaged Russian Soyuz capsule returns to Earth without a crew
A helicopter, part of Russia’s recovery steam, lands near the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on the steppe of Kazakhstan Tuesday. Credit: Roscosmos A Russian Soyuz spacecraft originally slated to bring home two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut parachuted to a landing in Kazakhstan Tuesday, returning to Earth without a crew due to concerns about overheating…
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Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a launches Bars-M reconnaissance satellite
Making its first military launch since November, Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a rocket has deployed Kosmos 2567 – likely a Bars-M reconnaissance satellite – into Sun-synchronous orbit. Soyuz lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 9:40 AM Moscow Time (06:40 UTC), taking around ten minutes to complete its mission. As is typical for Russian military launches, few details…
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Russian Proton-M launches Olymp-K-2 military satellite
At 23:13 UTC on March 12, Russia’s Proton-M rocket launched from Site 200/39 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the Olymp-K-2 satellite, also referred to as Luch-5X. The Olymp-K satellites are Russian geostationary satellites built for Russian military and intelligence use. Olymp Satellites The Olymp-K satellites, also referred to as Luch, are Russian geostationary satellites built for…