Proton rocket lifts off on July 31, 2020. (Credit: Roscosmos)
MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Within the framework of the planned program of launches of the Proton-M heavy class launch vehicles, the State Space Research and Production Center named after M.V. Khrunichev (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) has four rockets left to manufacture. Currently, ten Proton-M launch vehicles are in storage, and this year it is planned to complete the manufacture of the last four rockets.
The Proton is being replaced by the Angara-A5 heavy-class launch vehicle, which successfully launched in 2014, 2020 and 2021. as part of flight design tests. The launch of a full technological cycle for the production of Angara launch vehicles on the basis of the Omsk branch of the Khrunichev Center of the Polet Production Association (part of Roscosmos) is a priority task for the Roscosmos State Corporation.
The operation of the Proton space rocket complex at the Baikonur Cosmodrome began in 1965. At present, 426 launches of the Proton launch vehicle have been made in its various configurations. The main configuration for launching federal and commercial payloads is the Proton-M launch vehicle with the Breeze-M upper stage.
Soyuz MS-20 crew members Yozo Hirano, Alexander Misurkin and Yusaku Maezawa. (Credit: Roscosmos)
Schedule subject to change without notice.
December 7
Launch Vehicle: Atlas 5 (United Launch Alliance) Payloads: STP-6 and several rideshares Launch Window: 4:04-6:04 a.m. EST (0904-1104 UTC) Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. Webcast: www.nasa.gov
The U.S. Space Force mission will launch the STPSat-6 satellite and several secondary payloads. STPSat 6 hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration payload and the Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant, Yozo Hirano, to the International Space Station on a 12-day mission.
OUTCOME: Success
Launch Vehicle: Electron (Rocket Lab) Payloads: BlackSky 14 & 15 Earth observation satellites Launch Time: 6:45 p.m. EST (2345 UTC) Launch Site: Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand Webcast: www.rocketlab.com
December 9
Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9 (SpaceX) Payload: Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer Launch Window: 1:00-2:30 a.m. EST (0600-0730 UTC) Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida Webcast: www.nasa.gov
Launch Vehicle: New Shepard (Blue Origin) Payload: New Shepard Launch Time: TBA Launch Site: Corn Ranch, Texas Webcast: www.blueorigin.com
Laura Shepard Churchley will fly aboard a suborbital craft named in honor of her late father, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space 60 years ago and walked on the moon a decade later. She will be joined by: Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan; Voyager Space chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor; Lance Bess, principal and founder of Bess Ventures and Advisory; Lance’s son Cameron Bess; and Evan Dick, managing member of Dick Holdings. This will be the 19th launch of the New Shepard system.
…one more thing: at this point, there is no information that Nauka's tank membranes have leaks in orbit. Those rumors in the Russian press might be a garbled echo of my reporting here ;)-> https://t.co/kI0aPCmMVIpic.twitter.com/2AziN8Gi80
Russia’s new ISS science module Nauka ran into trouble after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Wednesday. A number of anomalies have popped up; the most serious issue at the moment appears to be with the Nauka‘s engine, which is needed to maneuver the module for a docking with the International Space Station.
Roscosmos has been of no help in sorting out the reports. The Russian corporation in charge of the country’s space program has issued no updates since reporting a successful launch aboard a Proton booster.
#Nauka update: Mission control just programmed the module to conduct first test engine firing. The planned orbit correction to follow, if everything works as planned. DETAILS: https://t.co/KZE3WlnXSupic.twitter.com/kw9z5FQN1R
Nauka is designed to replace the Pirs module, which the ISS crew planned to jettison. Below is a list of Nauka‘s functions.
Provision of docking of Progress MS transport cargo ships, Soyuz MS manned transport spacecraft and the Prichal nodal module;
roll control of the International Space Station;
receiving fuel from the Progress MS cargo spacecraft, storing it and transferring it to the tanks of the Zvezda module for performing dynamic operations – correcting the orbit, attitude and stabilization of the ISS;
storage of cargo delivered in the interests of the Russian segment of the ISS;
ensuring the functioning of the European manipulator ERA;
functioning of a complex of target loads for the implementation of the program of scientific and applied research in conditions of increased comfort of the crew;
oxygen production to meet the needs of a crew of up to six people;
the functioning of the airlock to work with target loads, including the use of the European Robotic Arm robotic arm;
functioning of the on-board workshop and a cabin for the third crew member of the Russian segment of the ISS, as well as ensuring the operation of a sewage and sanitary device with a system for regenerating water from urine.
BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (Roscosmos PR) — On July 21, 2021 at 17: 58: 24.938 Moscow time, the launch vehicle “Proton-M” with the multipurpose laboratory module “Nauka” was launched from the launcher No. 39 of the launch pad No. 200 of the Baikonur cosmodrome. According to the received telemetric information, all stages of the launch vehicle flight (separation of stages and dumping of the nose fairing flaps) passed in the normal mode.
The European Robotic Arm is the first robot that can ‘walk’ around the Russian part of the International Space Station. (Credit: ESA)
BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (ESA PR) — The European Robotic Arm (ERA) is set for launch on a Proton rocket to the International Space Station on 21 July at 16:58 CEST. The first robot that can ‘walk’ around the Russian part of the orbital complex will be launched with the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan.
Soyuz-2 rocket lifts off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome with 36 OneWeb satellites. (Credit: Arianespace)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
For Russia, 2020 was a mixed year in terms of launch. Once the world’s leader in sending payloads into space, the nation finished a distant third behind the United States and China with only 17 orbital flights. That figure was eight below the 25 launches in 2019, and Russia’s lowest number of the 21st century. The U.S. and China finished with 44 and 39 launch attempts, respectively.
On the bright side, 2020 was the second year in a row in which Russia did not experience a launch failure. That streak came after more a decade during which the Russian launch industry was plagued with multiple fmishaps.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched from Launch Complex 39A on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard, Saturday, May 30, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls & Joel Kowsky)
SpaceX dominated, China surged and Russia had another clean sheet as American astronauts flew from U.S. soil again in a year of firsts.
First in a series
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a very busy launch year with a number of firsts in both human and robotic exploration. A total of 114 orbital launches were attempted, with 104 successes and 10 failures. It was the same number of launches that were conducted in 2018, with that year seeing 111 successes, two failures and one partial failure.
Russia recently marked the 25th anniversary of the entry of the Proton rocket into the international commercial marketplace. On April 8, 1996, a Proton-K booster with a DM3 upper stage launched the Astra 1F geosynchronous communications satellite built by U.S.-based Hughes for Luxembourg’s SES from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The International Space Station, photographed by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli following the undocking of his Soyuz-TMA on 23 May 2011. (Credit: ESA/NASA)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
Well, this is interesting. And by interest, I mean what cynics had been predicting all along.
In the space of a couple of weeks, Russia’s plan for the future of the International Space Station (ISS) shifted from full withdrawal in 2025, to gradual withdrawal and the launch of a new Russian-only station beginning in 2025, to we’re fine with extending ISS to 2028 and we’ll start launching our new station then.
The central core of an Angara launcher. (Credit: Roscosmos)
MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — The new production facilities of the Khrunichev Center (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) will make it possible to produce up to ten missiles of the Angara family per year. In two cities of Russia, large-scale preparations are underway for the start of the serial production of missiles of this family. More details about the strategy and principles of organizing production, delimiting areas of responsibility between sites, the near and medium-term prospects of the heavy and light version of Angara.
Progress 77 approaches the International Space Station. (Credit: Roscosmos website)
HOUSTON (NASA PR) — An uncrewed Russian Progress 77 spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station’s Pirs docking compartment on the station’s Russian segment at 1:27 a.m. EST, two days after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Sunday, Feb. 14 at 11:45 p.m. EST (9:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, Baikonur time). The spacecraft were flying over Argentina at the time of docking.
The previously reprimanded head of the Russian company that oversees Russia’s ground-based space infrastructure has been fired in a continuing shakeup related to schedule delays and alleged corruption at the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
The Board of Directors of the Center for Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Facilities (TsENKI) voted to relieve General Director Andrei Okhlopkov from his post beginning on Nov. 27. A month earlier, Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin had reprimanded him during a visit to Vostochmy.
Okhlopkov had been the head of TsENKI since June 2018. The board replaced him with Ruslan Mukhamedzhanov, a 20-year TsENKI employee who most recently headed up the company’s Barmin Research Institute of Launch Complexes.
TsENKI is responsible for the creation of ground space infrastructure and manages Russian cosmodromes. The company, which is part of Roscosmos, employs more than 12,000 people.
Work on expanding Vostochny Cosmodrome has commenced. (Credit: Roscosmos)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
The Russian government says corruption has resurfaced at the Vostochny Cosmodrome despite years of efforts to get the problem under control.
Two government officials have been arrested for their alleged involvement in an embezzlement and bribery scheme at the spaceport in the country’s Far East. Russia Todayreports:
Proton rocket lifts off on July 31, 2020. (Credit: Roscosmos)
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (Roscosmos PR) — Proton-M carrier rocket with the Briz-M booster successfully launched from pad No. 39 of Site No. 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The rocket carried two Russian telecommunication satellites Ekspress-80 and Ekspress-103 built by ISS Reshetnev company (part of Roscosmos). The launch and flight of the carrier rocket went nominally.
According to the flight sequence, 587 seconds after the liftoff the space head unit (booster and two spacecraft assembly) nominally separated from the third stage of the carrier rocket.
Further injection into orbit will be ensured by the booster service propulsion system. The total injection time from the liftoff and second satellite separation will reach 18 hours, 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
Proton-M carrier rocket is manufactured by Khrunichev Center (part of Roscosmos) and has been used to inject payloads into target orbits and departure trajectories as part of federal and commercial programs since 2001.
Throughout its operation, the rocket has undergone four deep modernizations allowing substantial improvement of its thrust to weight ratio and ecological characteristics while injecting heavy single and dual payloads.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 11, 2020 (ILS PR) — Today ILS International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) announces the appointment of Tiphaine Louradour as President.
Tiphaine joins ILS with over two decades of Space Industry and management experience, most recently as President of Global Commercial Sales at United Launch Alliance (ULA). Prior to this role, Tiphaine held a number of positions of increasing responsibility in finance, risk management, strategy, commercial sales and marketing and also gained international business experience while serving as a consultant to international consulting firms in the US and Europe.
