Soyuz | Common News Update

Aug252019 by adminNo Comments

Unmanned Soyuz docking at International Space Station aborted; another try planned

Science

Aug. 24 (UPI) -- An unmanned Russian Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft aborted a docking with the International Space Station and another attempted is planned no earlier than Monday, space officials said Saturday. The spacecraft, which was maneuvered by a robot called Skybot F-850, was aborted at 1:36 a.m. EDT, NASA said in a blog post. After liftoff Wednesday night, the spacecraft made 34 orbits of Earth en route to its anticipated docking. Instead it came within roughly 330 feet from the ISS. The docking could not be attempted manually because there wasn't a necessary system on board the Soyuz, a NASA announcer said during the live broadcast. There is no threat to the International Space Station and its crew, according to Russian space agency Roscosmos in a report by state-run TASS. The Soyuz is...

Jul212019 by adminNo Comments

Astronauts arrive at space station aboard Soyuz on 50th anniversary of moon landing

Science

July 20 (UPI) -- NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan isn't going to the moon, but he celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission with a trip to the International Space Station on Saturday. Morgan was joined inside the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft by Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The trio blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:28 p.m. EDT and docked with the ISS at 6:48 p.m. EDT. They opened the hatch between the Soyuz spacecraft and the ISS around 9 p.m. EDT. Skvortsov was the first inside the ISS, followed by Morgan and Parmitano. NASA space station program manager Kirk Shireman congratulated the three-man crew on its successful launch and docking. "Thank you, Mr. Shireman," Morgan said. "The...

Jul202019 by adminNo Comments

Watch live: Soyuz to carry new crew to space station on 50th anniversary of Apollo 11

Science

July 20 (UPI) -- NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan isn't going to the moon, but he will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission with a trip to the International Space Station. Morgan will be joined inside the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft by Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The trio are scheduled to blast-off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:28 p.m. ET on Saturday, 9:28 p.m. local time. On Saturday evening, Morgan, Parmitano and Skvortsov will be welcomed onto the International Space Station, making the Expedition 60 crew a six-person team. The trip from Kazakhstan will last roughly 5.5 hours, with the spacecraft scheduled to dock at the station's Zvezda service module at 6:50 p.m. ET. The hatches w...

Dec202018 by adminNo Comments

Soyuz capsule returns to Earth from International Space Station

Science

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A Soyuz capsule with three crewmembers returned to Earth on Thursday after a six-month stay in the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, German astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev touched down safely in snowy Kazakhstan at 12:02 a.m. EST, according to NASA. They left the space station at 8:40 p.m. They spent 197 days in space, circling the globe 3,152 times and covering 83.3 million miles. The temperature was in single digits upon their landing in the remote area. "The Soyuz MS-09 stuck the landing on the eve of the 50th anniversary of humankind's first voyage to the moon," NASA TV commentator Rob Navias said during a live webcast of the landing as reported by Space.com....

Dec32018 by adminNo Comments

First manned Soyuz rocket since October accident takes off

Technology

A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying astronauts bound for the International Space Station has taken off for the first time since a Soyuz rocket failed midair in October. American astronaut Anne McClain joined Canada’s David Saint-Jacques and Russia’s Oleg Kononenko aboard the rocket that launched from the Baikonur spaceport in the desert in central Kazakhstan on Monday. The launch had unusually high stakes following the accident in October, when a Soyuz suffered a malfunction around 2 minutes after take-off, forcing an American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut to eject about 30 miles above the earth’s surface. Following that accident, Russia’s space agency Roscomos suspended all manned Soyuz flights, cutting off the only way to get astronauts to the ISS. More tha...