Tag: Soyuz
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Russian pensioners urge Vladimir Putin to rescue Starliner astronauts
One of the odder propaganda phenomena in Russia, of late, is seemingly spontaneous groups of elderly Russian pensioners gathering outdoors and espousing some random bit of agitprop. From a Western perspective, these are obviously staged and hilarious to behold. For example, last year a very earnest-looking group of elderly women and a few men urged…
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Launch Roundup: Progress MS-28, Indian SSLV, Chinese CZ-4B, and Falcon 9 flights scheduled
The second full week of August is another busy one, with five flights scheduled including the final certification flight of a new launch vehicle from India. The Falcon 9 and Soyuz rockets were also scheduled to fly this week with one mission to the International Space Station and a pair of non-Starlink flights from both…
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From Star City to Cape Canaveral, how a cosmonaut trains for a SpaceX flight
Although US astronauts are able to launch from Florida, some American astronauts still launch aboard Soyuz. Tracy Caldwell Dyson, an American, is aboard the ISS as of this writing, arriving after a liftoff from Kazakhstan on Soyuz MS-25. NASA and Roscosmos recently reached an agreement for a ride share, allowing one open seat for astronauts…
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SpaceX has now landed more boosters than most other rockets ever launch
SpaceX launches have become extremely routine. On Tuesday evening, SpaceX launched its 42nd rocket of the year, carrying yet another passel of Starlink satellites into orbit. Chances are, you didn’t even notice. All the same, the cumulative numbers are mind-boggling. SpaceX is now launching at a rate of one mission every 2.7 days this year.…
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Rocket Report: Starship could fly again in May; Ariane 6 coming together
Welcome to Edition 6.36 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX wants to launch the next Starship test flight as soon as early May, the company’s president and chief operating officer said this week. The third Starship test flight last week went well enough that the Federal Aviation Administration—yes, the FAA, the target of many SpaceX fans’…
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A Soyuz crew launch suffers a rare abort seconds before liftoff
On Thursday a crew of three people was due to launch on a Soyuz rocket, bound for the International Space Station. However, the launch scrubbed at about 20 seconds before the planned liftoff time, just before the sequence to ignite the rocket’s engines was initiated, due to unspecified issues. Shortly after the abort, there were…
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Roscosmos scrubs Soyuz crew launch 20 seconds before liftoff
The Soyuz 2.1a rocket at the pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The mission scrubbed on Thursday, March 21, 20 seconds prior to liftoff. Image: Roscosmos via NASA Update 8:21 a.m. ET: Roscosmos aborted the MS-25 launch attempt. A new launch date has not been set, but could be as soon as Saturday, March 23. A…
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Soyuz MS-25 launches to ISS with crew from Russia, Belarus, and NASA
The fourth human spaceflight — and third orbital human flight — of the year has successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz MS-25 was scheduled to fly on Thursday, March 21, at 13:21 UTC from Site 31/6 at the spaceport. Mission commander Oleg Novitsky, representing Roscosmos, NASA’s Tracy Caldwell…
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Launch Roundup: two missions to the ISS, including first Dragon 2 from SLC-40
SpaceX is preparing to launch three Falcon 9s, including two Starlink missions. Additionally, launching this week are two Chinese rockets, an Electron, and a crewed Soyuz. SpaceX will continue to strive for a record-breaking year by launching from all three of its Falcon 9 launch pads this week, which will take its launch total to…
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ISS Roundup: Cygnus NG-20, Axiom Mission 3, and Progress MS-26
This month, the International Space Station (ISS) has seen a flurry of activity, from experiments to vehicle arrivals and departures. Multiple resupply missions by Cygnus and Progress have kept the crew of Expedition 70 healthy onboard the Station. Meanwhile, a private mission from Axiom headed back to Earth with the first-ever all-European commercial crew, and…