Tag: Soyuz
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 “rescue” mission arrives at ISS
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, docked an uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a plan to replace the stricken Soyuz MS-22 vehicle. The MS-23 mission launched atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, Feb. 24, at 00:24 UTC. It docked without…
-
Progress MS-22 arrives at ISS, MS-21 develops coolant loop leak
Roscosmos’ latest Progress resupply craft has docked at the International Space Station (ISS). Liftoff of the Progress MS-22 mission occurred at 06:15 UTC on Feb. 9 from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz-2.1a rocket, docking two days later on Feb. 11 at 08:45 UTC. After the successful docking, Roscosmos engineers…
-
Russian space program facing challenges ahead of ambitious 2023
In the new year, Russia plans to launch its first probe to the Moon since 1976, debut a new member of the Soyuz rocket family, and launch the new Soyuz GVK resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). 2022 proved to be a slow year for the Russian launch cadence, with one Proton-M launch,…
-
Soyuz MS-22 suffers coolant leak, canceling Russian spacewalk
A planned spacewalk aboard the International Space Station on the evening of Dec. 14 involving cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin was canceled due to a coolant leak aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. The leak began around 7:45 PM EST on Dec. 14 (00:45 UTC on Dec. 15) when controllers in both Houston and Moscow…