Russia Launches First Rocket From Repaired Baikonur Launch Pad

Fox54 News

Site 31 was Russia's only operational launch pad for crewed missions

Russia has successfully launched a Soyuz rocket from a repaired launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, restoring its ability to send missions to the International Space Station for the first time since the site was damaged last year.

According to Roscosmos, a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft lifted off at 12:00 GMT on Sunday and was successfully placed into orbit. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on 24 March.

The launch pad had been out of service since November, when it sustained significant damage during the launch of the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft carrying two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut. Although the crew reached the station safely and no injuries were reported, the incident temporarily disrupted Russia’s capacity to carry out crewed and cargo missions to the ISS.

While Russia operates other cosmodromes within its territory, and Baikonur itself has multiple launch sites, the damaged pad was the only one equipped to support Soyuz rockets used for transporting crew capsules and Progress cargo vehicles to the space station.

Source: Reuters



PUKMEDIA