Soyuz Flight ST35 placed 34 more satellites into orbit. Following this 10th launch for OneWeb, Arianespace has deployed 322 satellites for the global connectivity constellation.
Ninth successful launches and sixth Soyuz operated by Arianespace and Starsem since the start of the year.
With this launch, Arianespace will have deployed 1,021 satellite since its incorporation in 1980.
BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (Arianespace PR) — Performed on Tuesday, September 14, at precisely 11:07 p.m. local time at Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome (06:07 p.m. UTC), Soyuz Flight ST35 lifted-off with 34 OneWeb satellites onboard, bringing, after the successful deployment, the size of the fleet in orbit to 322. Flight ST35 was the 60th Soyuz mission carried out by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate, and the tenth mission to the benefit of OneWeb.
Long March 2F rocket in flight carrying Shenzhou-11. (Credit: CCTV)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
The year 2018 was the busiest one for launches in decades. There were a total of 111 completely successful launches out of 114 attempts. It was the highest total since 1990, when 124 launches were conducted.
China set a new record for launches in 2018. The nation launched 39 times with 38 successes in a year that saw a private Chinese company fail in the country’s first ever orbital launch attempt.
Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft launched to the International Space Station. (Credit: Roscosmos)
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Roscosmos PR) — On August 22, 2019 at 03:38:32 UTC, the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft successfully lifted off from the launch pad No. 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The spacecraft will deliver scientific equipment for the experiments, medication, containers with food supplies, packages for the crew, as well as the Skybot F-850 humanoid robot. The Russian cosmonauts will test the robot systems under the spaceflight conditions. The main purpose of the robot is to use it during the hazardous tasks onboard the spacecraft including spacewalks.
After the ship’s separation from the third stage of the carrier rocket
the Chief Operating Control Group of the Russian segment of the ISS took
over the flight control.
The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket inserted the spacecraft into the orbit with the following parameters:
the minimum height above the Earth surface — 200 km;
the maximum height above the Earth surface — 243 km;
the orbit period — 88.64 min;
the orbit inclination — 51.67 deg.
The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft approach to the station and its berthing
to the Poisk research module is planned to be performed automatically
under control of the Chief Operating Control Group of the Russian
segment of the ISS at the Mission Control Center and Roscosmos
cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov. The docking
is scheduled at 05:30 UTC on August 24, 2019.
Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft docking at the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)
HOUSTON (NASA PR) — An uncrewed Russian Soyuz spacecraft is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Aug. 21, at 11:38 p.m. EDT (8:38 a.m. Aug. 22 Baikonur time) on a test flight to validate the spacecraft’s compatibility with a revamped Soyuz booster rocket. The booster will be used to transport crews to the International Space Station beginning in spring 2020.
KIRUNA, Sweden, 12 August 2019 (ESA PR) — As the second ExoMars mission, comprising a rover and surface science platform, progresses towards launch next year, teams continue to troubleshoot the parachute design following an unsuccessful high-altitude drop test last week.
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 60 crew members Drew Morgan of NASA, Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) pose for pictures July 5, 2019, in front of their Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft during prelaunch preparations. (Credits: Roscosmos/Andrey Shelepin)
Update: The crew arrived safely at the space station six hours after launch.
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (NASA PR) — Fifty years to the day that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the Moon in a giant leap for humanity, NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and two fellow crew members arrived Saturday for their mission aboard the International Space Station, where humans have lived and worked continuously for more than 18 years.
The Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft carrying Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA
(European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space
agency Roscosmos launched at 12:28 p.m. EDT July 20 (9:28 p.m.
Kazakhstan time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and has
safely reached orbit. At the time of launch, the station was flying
about 254 miles over southern Russia between Kazakhstan and Mongolia,
646 miles ahead of the Soyuz as it left the launch pad.
The crew has begun their six-hour trip to the orbital laboratory
where they will live and work for their mission. Coverage of the Soyuz
docking to the International Space Station will begin on NASA TV and the
agency’s website at 6 p.m., with the spacecraft docking expected at 6:50 p.m.
Coverage of the hatch opening between the Soyuz and the space station will begin at 8 p.m.
HOUSTON (NASA PR) — Two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are set to join the crew aboard the International Space Station on Thursday, March 14. The trio’s arrival will return the orbiting laboratory’s population to six, including three NASA astronauts. This launch will also mark the fourth Expedition crew with two female astronauts. Live coverage will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, are set to launch aboard the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft at 3:14 p.m. EDT (12:14 a.m. March 15 Kazakhstan time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a six-hour journey to the station.
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Roscosmos PR) — Today, February 21, 2019, from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 19:47 Moscow time, the launch vehicle Soyuz-2 with the Fregat accelerating unit (RB) and the satellite Egyptsat-A, created in the interests of the Arab Republic of Egypt, was launched.
After the separation of the head unit from the third stage of the carrier rocket RB “Frigate” continued the removal of the spacecraft. The separation of the satellite from the upper stage took place normally after two inclusions of the marching propulsion system in strict accordance with the flight sequence chart.
The Egyptsat-A spacecraft is designed to capture the earth’s surface with high spatial resolution. After the flight test program has been completed, the satellite will be transferred to the Egyptian side.
Translated from Russian using Google Translate.
Editor’s Note: There are reliable Twitter reports that the third stage of the Soyuz-2 booster under performed. The Frigate(Fregate) stage fired longer to place the satellite into its intended orbit. It’s not clear if the anomaly will impact upcoming launches of OneWeb satellites or crews and supplies to the International Space Station.
Left: Launch of the Zarya Functional Cargo Block from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Right: Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from the Kennedy Space Center on the STS-88 mission to deliver the Unity Node 1 module. (Credit: NASA, Roscosmos)
HOUSTON (NASA PR) — The largest and most complex international construction project in space began on the steppes of Kazakhstan 20 years ago today. Atop its Proton rocket, on Nov. 20, 1998, the Zarya Functional Cargo Block (FGB) thundered off its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome into cold wintry skies. Zarya was built by the Khrunichev in Moscow and served as a temporary control module for the nascent ISS.
Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, left, and Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, right. embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The abort of a crewed Soyuz launch to the International Space Station last month was caused by a damaged sensor pin in a mechanism designed to separate one of the rocket’s four strap-on boosters from the core stage, Roscosmos has announced.
“The abnormal separation was caused by the non-opening of the lid of the nozzle intended to separate a side Block D oxidizer tank due to the deformation of the separation sensor pin,” the space corporation said in a press release. “It was damaged during the assembling of the strap-on boosters with the core stage (the Packet) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The LV [launch vehicle] failure cause is of the operational nature and spreads to the stock of already assembled packets of the Soyuz rocket.”
Oleg Skorobogatov, who headed up the investigation, said at a press conference that the nose of the strap-on booster hit the core stage in the area of the fuel tank, resulting in a decompression that triggered the abort. Skorobogatov is deputy director general of TsNIImash.
Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague landed safely under parachute in their MS-10 Soyuz spacecraft. Neither one was injured.
“The Emergency Crew Rescue System of Soyuz MS-10 spaceship functioned properly,” Roscosmos said in its press statement. “The crew was acting as required by the on-board instructions and those given by the Mission Control Center.”
Roscosmos has taken steps to prevent a recurrence of the incident and approved a plan to resume launches to the space station.
“The State Committee has approved the launch dates under the International Space Station Program as follows: the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket with Progress MS −10 cargo spaceship to go on November 16, 2018, and the launch of Soyuz MS-11 manned spaceship to go on December 3, 2018. The crew of Soyuz MS-09 — Alexander Gerst (ESA), Sergey Prokopiev (Roscosmos) and Serina Auñón-Chensellor (NASA) — will return to the Earth on December 20, 2018,” the corporation said.
Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, left, and Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, right. embrace their families after landing at the Krayniy Airport, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (NASA PR) — American astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are resting comfortably in the city of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, after an anomaly occurred shortly after their launch.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Below is NASA’s statement about the International Space Station Leak Investigation:
On Aug. 29, 2018 a small hole was discovered on the International Space Station. This resulted in a pressure leak. The hole has been identified and fixed by space station crew.
Russian media recently reported that General Director Rogozin said the hole was not a manufacturing defect. Ruling out a manufacturing defect indicates that this is an isolated issue which does not categorically affect future production.
This conclusion does not necessarily mean the hole was created intentionally or with mal-intent. NASA and Roscosmos are both investigating the incident to determine the cause. The International Space Station Program is tentatively planning a spacewalk in November to gather more information.
On October 11, American Astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will launch to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Administrator Bridenstine is scheduled to attend the launch and plans to meet with Mr. Rogozin. This will be their first in-person meeting. They had a telephone call on September 12 during which they discussed the International Space Station leak.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket carrying the NROL-47 mission lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (Credit: ULA)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
The world’s launch providers were extremely busy in the first half of 2018, with China and the United States battling for the lead.
There with 55 orbital launches through the end of June, which amounted to a launch every 3.29 days or 79 hours. The total is more than half the 90 launches attempted in 2017. With approximately 42 missions scheduled for the last six months of the year, the total could reach 97. (more…)
The Soyuz MS-09 rocket is launched with Expedition 56 Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), Wednesday, June 6, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Prokopyev, Auñón-Chancellor, and Gerst will spend the next six months living and working aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)
BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (NASA PR) — Three crew members are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:12 a.m. EDT Wednesday (5:12 p.m. Baikonur time).
