Tag: Soyuz
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Soyuz 2-1b launches latest GLONASS-M spacecraft
A Russian Soyuz-2-1b rocket launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Monday, deploying a GLONASS-M navigation system with the aid of a Fregat-M upper stage. Liftoff occurred at 18:28 UTC, beginning a three-and-a-half hour journey to the spacecraft’s destination orbit that ended with a successful spacecraft separation. Russia’s GLONASS navigation system is served by a constellation…
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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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Preparations continue amid crew shuffle for Soyuz MS-16
Preparations are underway at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Star City, and at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for the Soyuz MS-16 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). This comes after the recent announcement that the Prime Crew of Soyuz MS-16 which included Russian Cosmonauts Nikolai Tikhonov (Commander), Andrei Babkin (Flight Engineer 1), and NASA Astronaut Christopher…
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The 50th Arianespace, Starsem mission completes OneWeb launch
The European launch services provider Arianespace — in conjunction with the European-Russian Starsem company — conducted the launch of a Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 34 OneWeb space-based internet satellites. The mission launched from Site No. 31/6 at 16:42 EST (21:42 UTC) in an instantaneous launch window. The mission lasted 5…
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OneWeb sends 34 broadband satellites into orbit on Arianespace Soyuz rocket, challenging SpaceX
Europe’s Arianespace launch consortium today used a Russian-made Soyuz rocket to send 34 satellites into a near-polar orbit for OneWeb’s broadband internet constellation, sharpening a rivalry with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation. The Soyuz lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:42 a.m. Feb. 7 (1:42 p.m. PT Feb. 6) and successfully deployed the…
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Soyuz MS-13 crew return to Earth
After a record-setting 328 continuous days in space, NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned to Earth Thursday, 6 February, with her European and Russian counterparts Luca Parmitano and Aleksandr Skvortsov, respectively. The trio undocked from the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft at 00:50 EST (05:50 UTC) before initiating a deorbit burn two and…
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Soyuz MS-13 crew return to Earth
After a record-setting 328 continuous days in space, NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned to Earth Thursday, 6 February, with her European and Russian counterparts Luca Parmitano and Aleksandr Skvortsov, respectively. The trio undocked from the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft at 00:50 EST (05:50 UTC) before initiating a deorbit burn two and…
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Arianespace launches historic CHEOPS exoplanet satellite mission
The Characterizing Exoplanets Satellite, officially known as CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite – or CHEOPS, is a joint European Space Agency and Swiss Space Office space telescope designed to study the formation and sizes of known transiting exoplanets. Liftoff of the mission, which includes the first of the second generation of Cosmo-SkyMed satellites as well as three…
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Soyuz 2-1b launches latest GLONASS satellite – returns Plesetsk pad to service
Russia has launched a new satellite to replenish its GLONASS navigation system Tuesday, via a Soyuz-2-1b rocket with a Fregat-M upper stage. The launch took place at 11:54 Moscow Time (08:54 UTC), returning to service a launch pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome that has stood dormant for over seventeen years. GLONASS is a network of…
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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;…