Russia – Page 36 – Spaceflight Now

Repaired Soyuz prepped to launch three to space station

October 18, 2016 William Harwood

Running nearly a month late because of work to repair a damaged cable, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft was primed for launch early Wednesday to carry two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut to the International Space Station, boosting the lab’s crew back to six.

Antares rocket back in action with successful launch of upgraded booster

October 18, 2016 Stephen Clark

A commercial Antares cargo booster powered by new kerosene-fueled rocket engines streaked into orbit from a launch pad on the Virginia coastline Monday, returning to service to resupply the International Space Station after a two-year grounding stemming from a fiery crash in 2014.

European Mars lander released from ExoMars mothership

October 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

A saucer-shaped entry, descent and landing demonstrator separated from Europe’s ExoMars orbiter Sunday, beginning a three-day approach aiming to become the first European-built craft to set down on the red planet and return data.

NASA has no plans to buy more Soyuz seats, and it may be too late anyway

October 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA is sure enough that Boeing and SpaceX can safely launch astronauts to the International Space Station by early 2019 to hold off paying Russia to keep flying U.S. crews to the research complex, and one official says a deadline to order parts for new Russian Soyuz crew capsules may have already passed.

Russia’s S7 Group to take over Sea Launch

October 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

The owners of a Russian airline hope to revive the Sea Launch program, a major player in the commercial launch business for a decade, after purchasing the company’s ships and ground infrastructure from Russian aerospace contractor RSC Energia.

Russian space station crews to be smaller next year

September 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

Russia’s space agency has decided to cut the size of its crew complement on the International Space Station beginning in March 2017 to reduce operating costs until a new Russian science lab is activated on the complex in early 2018, officials confirmed this week.

Smaller variants of Russia’s Proton rocket on the market

September 22, 2016 Stephen Clark

Khrunichev and International Launch Services, the team behind Russia’s Proton rocket, are developing two scaled-down versions of the booster in a bid to capture a wider share of the commercial launch market, the companies announced last week.

Soyuz spaceship lands in Kazakhstan

September 7, 2016 William Harwood

Less than a week after winding up a successful spacewalk, outgoing space station commander Jeff Williams, America’s most experienced astronaut, joined two Russian cosmonauts for a fiery return to Earth Tuesday, closing out a 172-day mission with an on-target landing in Kazakhstan.

Live coverage: Soyuz capsule brings home station crew

September 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

Soyuz commander Alexei Ovchinin, flight engineer Oleg Skripochka and outgoing space station skipper Jeff Williams returned to Earth on Tuesday with a parachute-assisted touchdown in Kazakhstan. Their Soyuz TMA-20M capsule undocked from the station at 2151 GMT (5:51 p.m. EDT) and landed at 0113 GMT (9:13 p.m. EDT).

Station fliers set for return to Earth after 172-day mission

September 6, 2016 William Harwood

Less than a week after winding up a successful spacewalk, outgoing space station commander Jeff Williams, America’s most experienced astronaut, will join two Russian cosmonauts for a fiery descent to Earth Tuesday evening to close out a 172-day mission covering 2,752 orbits and 72.8 million miles since launch last March.