The first Soyuz rocket to launch from a new cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East is being assembled for liftoff in April with a package of small research satellites.
Russia’s Progress supply ship got an upgrade with a successful cargo launch to the International Space Station on Monday to kick off a two-day flight to the complex with more than 2.8 tons of equipment, propellant and water.
Russia successfully launched a Kobalt-type optical reconnaissance satellite Friday aboard a Soyuz rocket, marking the workhorse booster’s first flight since the failure of a resupply launch to the International Space Station in April.
Russia says a design bug from the pairing of a Progress spacecraft with an upgraded version of the venerable Soyuz launcher led to the loss of a resupply mission bound for the International Space Station on April 28.
Russia launched a next-generation military reconnaissance satellite Friday, ushering in an era of digital mapping from orbit after decades of relying on film returned to Earth inside landing capsules.