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Critical Baikonur Launch Pad Hit by Damage After Soyuz MS-28 Liftoff

Russia’s space agency has confirmed that a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was damaged during the liftoff of a Soyuz spacecraft that carried three crew to the International Space Station, raising questions about the near-term launch schedule at the site that Russia has relied on for more than six decades. Roscosmos reported that the Soyuz MS-28 mission lifted off from Baikonur on November 26 and reached orbit without problems. The spacecraft carried Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, and NASA astronaut Christopher Williams. The crew docked with the station about three hours later. Roscosmos said in a statement on its official Telegram channel that the crew was healthy and the spacecraft worked as planned. Soon after the launch, engineers inspected Launch Pad 31/6, which served as the departure point for the flight. The agency said the inspection found damage to several structural elements on the pad and that repair work would start soon. Roscosmos said all required parts were on hand and the pad would be restored in the near future. Both The Moscow Times and Russian state media, including RIA Novosti, reported that the pad sustained damage but did not identify specific components. Roscosmos confirmed that “damage to several elements of the launch pad was detected.” Independent analysts have stated the damage might be more serious than Roscosmos has suggested, with Anatoly Zak, who publishes technical assessments of Russian space activity at RussiaSpaceWeb, reporting that a mobile service platform may have collapsed into the flame trench below the pad during or shortly after liftoff. Zak noted that the available launch pad for Russian crew missions might be unusable until engineers confirm the structure’s stability, and that it was unclear how soon crews or cargo could fly from Baikonur if the pad requires major work. Roscosmos has not confirmed a collapse of the platform, and it has not provided further details about the condition of the pad. The agency said the accident did not affect the MS-28 mission itself, which it described as nominal. But any impact on the pad is notable because Russia depends on Baikonur for its Soyuz crew launches. Russia leases the site from Kazakhstan through 2050 and continues to use its Soviet-era pads because Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East is not yet certified for crew flights. Russian outlets noted that future launches could face adjustments, but none reported a confirmed delay of a Progress mission. Roscosmos has neither confirmed the schedule nor said whether that mission will move to a later date. NASA has not issued a public statement about the status of joint operations after the incident. Russia and the United States continue to exchange seats on Soyuz and SpaceX vehicles under a 2022 agreement that allows both sides to maintain a sustained presence on the International Space Station. NASA has said the arrangement reduces risk because each side can reach the station even if one spacecraft type is grounded for technical reasons. The new damage at Baikonur highlights the...

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Launch Pad Damage Reported at Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome

Russia’s space agency says a launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was damaged during the lift-off of a Soyuz spacecraft that ferried three people to the International Space Station on Thursday. The agency, Roscosmos, said the launch pad will soon be repaired. But some analysts say the incident could lead to launch delays at Baikonur, which Russia periodically uses to send its cosmonauts as well as American astronauts to the space station. In the latest mission from Baikonur, the Soyuz MS-28 craft safely delivered Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, as well as Christopher Williams of NASA, to the station. “The space launch vehicle took off normally, without any issues. The spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station. The crew is on board and feeling well,” Roscosmos said on Telegram. “An inspection of the launch site was conducted, as is done every time after a rocket launch. Damage to several elements of the launch pad was identified,” the agency said. It added: “All necessary spare parts are available for restoration, and the damage will be repaired in the near future.” Quoting unidentified Russian sources, space writer Anatoly Zak said that a mobile service platform had collapsed into a flame duct below the launch pad, making the only facility for Russian orbital crew launches unusable for now. He said it was unclear whether a makeshift solution could be found to offset any delay in cargo and crew launches. A cargo flight had been scheduled for December. Crewed flights have long traveled from the United States to the International Space Station. But any significant disruption to Russia’s launch capabilities would be a setback for the station, which is scheduled to be decommissioned around 2030.

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International Space Station Marks 25 Years of Continuous Habitation

Two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut floated through a hatch into the International Space Station on Thursday, beginning an eight-month stay after arriving on a Russian spacecraft that launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz MS-28 craft that docked at the station, or ISS, on Thursday carried Russian commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov on his second trip to space, as well as Russian Sergey Mikayev and Christopher Williams of NASA. Mikayev and Williams are on their first mission as part of a longstanding collaboration between NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos that has kept the ISS continuously inhabited for 25 years. The first arrivals were in November 2000. Live video showed Kud-Sverchkov, Mikayev and Williams, who will conduct scientific experiments and spacewalks during their stay, being greeted with big smiles from the astronauts and cosmonauts already on board the ISS. There are now a total of 10 people on the station. Williams, who has worked as a clinical physicist and cancer researcher, recently talked about his relationship with his fellow travelers from Russia on a NASA-run program called Houston We Have a Podcast. “It’s a really great crew,” Williams said. The two Russians, he said, “are both just absolutely wonderful people, really kind, super interested, super intellectually curious, which is really fun. Had a lot of really, really great discussions, just talking and talking about things. And it’s been been wonderful to both spend some time with them over in Star City, and also to be able to spend some time with them in Houston through our training.” Star City is a facility in the Moscow area where cosmonauts train. Houston is home to NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “And so when I’m over there in Star City, we’re doing a lot of Soyuz simulations together,” Williams said. “So we’re spending a lot of time, sort of the three of us in a small capsule for, you know, several hours at a time, you know, in suits… running through sort of mock scenarios of of what would happen on launch, on rendezvous, on on on departing the station, as well as in the ISS trainers.” The training also included emergency scenarios that could unfold on the International Space Station.

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Mice in “Miniature Hotel” Poised for Space Launch from Baikonur

A crew of mice, flies, and ants, to be used for biomedical research in space, are on board a spacecraft that Russia is preparing to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On other missions, the rocket typically rolls to the launch pad a few days before launch. On this one, however, a Soyuz rocket that will hoist the Bion-M No. 2 biosatellite into orbit rolled out on Tuesday, one day ahead of the scheduled lift-off. “This is due to the preservation of the biological samples on board,” said Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency. “The goal is to reach weightlessness as quickly as possible.” The purpose of sending mice to space is to evaluate the impact of radiation and zero gravity on the rodents, including whether time in space affects their hormonal balance, immunity, reproductive processes, and metabolism. Russia has conducted similar missions in the past, including the Bion-M No.1 satellite launch in 2013 that ferried mice, gerbils, snails, and fish to space. The Bion-M No. 2 mission has been delayed multiple times in recent years. Such experiments could help prepare humans for long-term space travel. Mice have a genetic similarity to humans, and their short life cycle allows for the tracking of changes across generations, according to Roscosmos. During the 30-day mission of the Bion-M No. 2, “scientists will receive real-time data on the rodents' condition using special cameras and sensors inside the mouse boxes. Moreover, some individuals will have implanted chips,” the space agency said. It said the living conditions of the dozens of mice on the satellite resemble a “miniature hotel” in which they have feeding, lighting, ventilation, and waste disposal systems. The accommodation is more spacious than it was for the mice on the Bion-M No. 1 satellite more than a decade ago. Fruit flies, ants, tomato seeds and fungi are also on this week’s space-bound mission. The tomato seeds, part of an experiment being conducted by Russian and Belarusian schoolchildren, will be planted on Earth after the space mission to see how they grow.

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Latest Baikonur Launch Pays Tribute to 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Mission

In July 1975, millions of people watched on television as a U.S. Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule in a crewed mission in orbit that symbolized collaboration between the two superpowers at the height of Cold War enmity. That remarkable moment 50 years ago is being commemorated on a Soyuz rocket carrying a Russian cargo spacecraft that launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan – early on Friday, Baikonur time - and is scheduled to reach the International Space Station after a two-day trip. The spacecraft is loaded with more than 2.5 tons of fuel, drinking water, food, medicine, science equipment, and other supplies for the crew on the station. The Soyuz rocket currently heading to the ISS is painted white and blue and has an emblem marking the anniversary of the Soyuz-Apollo docking, which was the first international space mission. It had begun on July 15, 1975, when two Soviet cosmonauts launched from Baikonur and, hours later, three American astronauts blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Russians and the Americans connected in space two days later, shaking hands, exchanging gifts, and sharing a meal. The show of comity in space contrasted with the intense competition between the two global rivals that was known as the “space race,” which included the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite into orbit in 1957 and the Apollo 11 landing of American astronauts on the moon in 1969. “I really believe that we were sort of an example … to the countries. We were a little of a spark or a foot in the door that started better communications,” Apollo astronaut Vance Brand had said, according to a NASA account of the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Tensions between Russia and the United States escalated after Moscow launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, though relations improved after U.S. President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January. The U.S. and Russian space agencies have continued to collaborate over the course of the protracted war. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, refers to the cargo spacecraft currently in orbit as Progress MS-31, while the U.S. agency NASA uses the term Progress 92 because it’s the 92nd Russian resupply craft to launch in support of the International Space Station since its construction began in 1998. The Apollo-Soyuz mission has been described as a precursor of the ISS project.

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Baikonur Fallout: Russia’s Cosmic Legacy Leaves Scars on Kazakhstan

“Every time there’s a rocket launch at Baikonur, you can’t see for days. The sand comes up off the ground, and doesn’t shift for a good while,” a waiter in Aralsk, a one-time fishing town on what was once the shore of the shriveled Aral Sea told The Times of Central Asia. Upon entering Baikonur, Russia’s gateway to outer space on the Kazakh steppe, the first thing you see is a billboard proudly displaying Vladimir Putin shaking hands with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Beneath the façade, however, Russia’s presence here has spurred major economic inequalities and environmental degradation. Backwater to the Cosmos [caption id="attachment_32232" align="aligncenter" width="1512"] "Here on January 12, 1955, the first group of military engineers arrived, who laid the foundation for the creation of Baikonur Cosmodrome;” image: Thomas Hodgson[/caption] Stepping off the train at Töretam, the closest town to Baikonur proper, there is very little sense of occasion to be found. The only reference to the existence of rockets in the immediate vicinity is a tucked-away, red-starred plaque on the platform bearing the inscription: “Here on January 12, 1955, the first group of military engineers arrived, who laid the foundation for the creation of Baikonur Cosmodrome.” In 1961, Yuri Gagarin launched from Baikonur to become the first human being in outer space, propelling the complex’s status in history from an obscure backwater to a legendary, top-secret star city. In reality, “Baikonur” was a decoy name given by the Soviets to a town 300 kilometers away from the real launch site at Leninsk. Western newspapers reinforced the false story, and Baikonur entered the global popular consciousness. Kazakhstan’s government chose to sell the myth, finally renaming the actual cosmodrome settlement from Leninsk to Baikonur in 1995. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia found overnight that its primary spaceport was in a foreign power’s possession. By 1994, Moscow struck a deal with the nascent Kazakh Republic to lease Baikonur at a rate of 7 billion rubles per year ($110 million). As of 2024, the Kazakh state has pulled in over $3 billion in revenue from the scheme. Living in the Shadow of Russia [caption id="attachment_32233" align="aligncenter" width="1512"] Image: Thomas Hodgson[/caption] The extent of Russia’s grip over the area, even outside of the “ring,” is clear in all aspects of daily life. In nearly every shop in Töretam, the ruble is accepted alongside the Kazakh tenge. This poses problems for the local economy, with the circulation of rubles effectively pricing out anyone who doesn’t receive a ruble salary from jobs in Baikonur itself. The Russian language is likewise used in tandem with Kazakh, even though the surrounding Kyzylorda region is less than 2% ethnically Russian and, by all appearances, overwhelmingly favors Kazakh. Poverty is widespread here, juxtaposed markedly with the hordes of affluent “space tourists” from around the world who head through Töretam into the “ring” every day. Tour agencies charge upwards of $1,000 per day for access to Baikonur, yet reinvestment in communities surrounding the “ring” seems non-existent,...