The last Delta 4 launcher to fly in a single-core configuration rumbled into space Thursday morning from Cape Canaveral with a GPS navigation satellite, leaving United Launch Alliance with five more Delta 4-Heavy missions on contract through late 2023 before the Delta rocket family retires from service.
Russian teams launched the unpiloted Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:38 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0338 GMT Thursday) on a two-day trip to the International Space Station. The spaceship — with a robot passenger — launched on a test flight with an upgraded model of the Soyuz rocket that will begin carrying crews into orbit next year.
An unpiloted Russian Soyuz spacecraft, with a humanoid robot in the commander’s seat instead of a cosmonaut, is scheduled for liftoff late Wednesday (U.S. time) from Kazakhstan on a test flight to verify the spaceship’s compatibility with the new-generation Soyuz-2.1a rocket set to begin launching crews to the International Space Station next year.
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