If you think NASA sometimes has trouble explaining just what it wants to do with the Space Launch System before it is actually used for the “Journey to Mars,” consider this somewhat bizarre explanation of Russia’s planned Fenix launch vehicle. Billed as a backup to the Angara system for the same reason the USAF insists […]
In the latest of what has become a string of incidents, some serious and some minor, for the Russian space program, Roscosmos reported yesterday that a “glitch” with a Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station resulted in an inadvertent thruster firing. The firing, which took place at 10:27 AM CDT, occurred during a […]
Screen Capture of Proton MexSat-1 Launch The Russian aerospace industry suffered a new failure overnight as another Proton booster, this one operating for U.S. marketer International Launch Services, failed to reach orbit. The failure occurred approximately one minute before the payload, with Briz-M upper stage still attached, was supposed to separate from the rocket’s 3rd […]
Roscosmos has reported that the stricken M-27M Progress resupply vessel reentered the Earth’s atmosphere overnight. The statement, which is on the agency’s website (in Russian), says that the craft “ceased to exist over the central Pacific Ocean, and that the results of an investigation will be presented no later than May 13th. Further reports in […]
Source: RIA Novosti Vladimir Popovkin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Saturday that British soprano Sarah Brightman may be bumped from a flight slot to ISS in 2015. According the report, NASA and Roscosmos may jointly decide to extend the duration of what would have been her flight from eight days to a month, effectively erasing her opportunity. Given that the purported […]
Source: Rianovosti, Russianspaceweb In another sign that after years of decay and delays, Russia is serious about revamping its space infrastructure, Vladimir Popovkin announced today that his agency Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, will launch a lunar orbiter mission in 2015 aboard a Soyuz-2. Scheduled to lift off out of the yet to be completed Vostochny space launch complex in the […]
Source: RIA Novosti The Russian space agency Roscosmos released a document Saturday prioritizing space goals through 2020. The plan, which was apparently approved in December, calls for a $69 billion investment and continues the focus on consolidating the sprawling space infrastructure into a much smaller number of holding companies with the ultiamte goal of attracting commercial investment. New starts in human spaceflight […]
Sources: RIA Novosti, Spacepolicyonline.com Investigation of a December 8 launch incident which saw a Proton booster deliver the Yamal 402 satellite to the wrong orbit has focused on a failed turbopump bearing in the Briz-M upper stage. Although the satellite was eventually boosted to the proper orbit using its own on-board propellant, the mission saving manuever did not come without a cost, most likely […]
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