Q&A with Steve Clarke, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s science division (members only)

A Russian Soyuz launcher fired into orbit from the remote steppe of Kazakhstan Thursday with 34 satellites built on Florida’s Space Coast, commencing a sequence of launches to deploy a network of nearly 650 spacecraft for a global broadband network owned by OneWeb.

A Soyuz rocket lifted off Sunday from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East with 36 internet satellites built on Florida’s Space Coast for OneWeb, bringing the company’s fleet to 182 spacecraft, more than a quarter of the way to building out a constellation of nearly 650 orbiting relay nodes. 

NASA wants to fly an astronaut on Russia’s next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station in April, a measure the agency says would ensure a continued U.S. presence on the research outpost in case of delays in the launch of SpaceX’s next Crew Dragon flight.