The New York Times reports, “The launchpad Russia uses for sending astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station is out of commission after a mishap last week during the liftoff of a Soyuz rocket. The rocket itself headed to space without incident, taking three astronauts — Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of Russia and Chris Williams of NASA — to the space station. But the force of the rocket’s exhaust shoved a service platform used for prelaunch preparations out of its protective shelter. The platform fell into the flame trench below.”
Full Story (New York Times – subscription publication)
Tag: Soyuz rocket
Russia to Launch Another Soyuz Craft to Rescue ISS Crew
Reuters reports that Russia said Wednesday that “it would launch another Soyuz spacecraft next month to bring home two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut from the International Space Station after their original capsule was struck by a micrometeoroid and started leaking last month.” The leak came from “a tiny puncture – less than 1 millimetre wide – on the external cooling system of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule, one of two return capsules docked to the ISS that can bring crew members home.” Russia said a new capsule, Soyuz MS-23, “would be sent up on Feb. 20 to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22, which will be brought back to Earth empty.” Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and U.S. astronaut Francisco Rubio “had been due to end their mission in March but will now extend it by a few more months and return aboard the MS-23.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Soyuz Embargo Grounds More than a Dozen Satellite Missions
Space News reports that the Soyuz rocket’s “sudden exit from the global stage has left more than a dozen non-Russian satellite missions without clear paths to orbit.” Phil Smith, a BryceTech analyst, “said the sudden, indefinite removal of Soyuz from the market ‘puts some customers in a lurch.’ And while ‘options exist’ thanks to ‘new capability being introduced’ this year by Arianespace and others, ‘prompt rescheduling will be challenging as these companies have existing backlogs.’”
Full Story (Space News)
Soyuz Deploys 38 Satellites After Successful Launch
Space News reports that on Monday at 2:07 a.m. EDT, a Soyuz rocket launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying 38 satellites from 18 countries. The launch was the “first all-commercial rideshare mission GK Launch Services has arranged without a Russian government satellite onboard.” The rocket’s primary payload was South Korea’s CAS500-1 remote sensing satellite, which “separated from the rocket’s Fregat upper stage around 3:10 a.m EDT, according to a [Roscosmos] news release.” Following “two more restarts of the Fregat upper stage, the first batch of secondary payloads – four GRUS remote sensing satellites for Tokyo-based Axelspace Corp. – were deployed between 4:35 a.m. and 4:37 a.m.” EDT. The “deployment of the remaining secondary payloads began at 6:13 a.m. and concluded at 6:43 a.m. EDT following two more upper stage burns, according to Roscosmos.”
Full Story (Space News)