News Archive

The first in the history private manned spacecraft "Crew Dragon", produced by the American company "SpaceX", made docking with the International Space Station (ISS)., the ISS’s Twitter account reports on Sunday, March 3. "Crew Dragon", or "Dragon-2", is a private spacecraft of the American company "SpaceX", developed by order of NASA, designed to deliver astronauts to the ISS and return to Earth. It was put into orbit in test mode on March 2 by the "Falcon 9" launch vehicle.

Today, at the Baikonur cosmodrome, in front of the "Cosmonaut" Hotel, a ceremony was held to raise the flags of countries, participating in the "Soyuz MS-12" international launch to the International Space Station. The traditional event, which symbolizes the official start of the final stage of crew preparation for a launch, was attended by the main and backup crews of the 59 / 60th long expedition to the ISS. Roskosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov raised the Russian flag, NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch - the USA flag, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan - the flag of Kazakhstan.

On February 28 at 00:37 (Moscow time) from the Guiana Space Center the first OneWeb-pilot spacecrafts were launched with a "Soyuz-ST-B" rocket with an upper stage "Fregat-M". OneWeb low-orbit spacecrafts are designed to provide high-speed Internet directly via satellite. The total orbital group will consist of 18 separate groups with 36 spacecrafts each. Satellite launches are planned from the Vostochny, Baikonur cosmodromes and Guiana Space Center.

The final stage of preparation of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft for the flight to the International Space Station (ISS) began at the Baikonur cosmodrome. In accordance with the training schedule, the cosmonauts and astronauts tried the flight suits, tested them for tightness, and took seats in their ship. The main crew of the ISS-59/60 includes Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch. Their backups are Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan. The launch of the "Soyuz-FG" carrier rocket with "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft to the International Space Station is scheduled for March 14, 2019 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

On February 26, 2019, the main and backup crews of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome to complete preparations for the flight. Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch are in the main crew of the ISS-59/60. Their backups are Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan. The launch of the "Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle with "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft is scheduled for March 14, 2019 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

In accordance with the flight program of the International Space Station (ISS), on February 26, 2019, a planned correction of the ISS orbit was performed. The working time of the engine system was 434 seconds. The purpose of the correction was the formation of ballistic conditions for launching and docking of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft.

On the night of Tuesday, February 26, the train with the "Proton-M" launch vehicle, the head fairing and the upper stage DM-03, was sent from the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center to the Baikonur cosmodrome. The "Proton-M" launch vehicle with the DM-03 upper stage, created at RSC "Energia", will be used to launch the Russian "Spectr-RG" spacecraft. The main mission of the "Spectr-RG" is the study of the Universe in the X-ray range of electromagnetic radiation, the creation of a "map" of the visible Universe, on which all fairly large clusters of galaxies will be marked.

Today, on February 21, 2019, from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 19:47 (Moscow time), the launch vehicle "Soyuz-2" with the "Fregat" upper stage and the "Egyptsat-A" satellite, created in the interests of the Arab Republic of Egypt, was launched. The 'Egyptsat-A' satellite is designed to capture the earth's surface with high resolution. After the finish of the flight test program, the satellite control will be transferred to the Egyptian side.

Less than a month is left before the launch of the "Soyuz MS-12" spacecraft. Yesterday at the GCTC was the second day of complex examination exercises, based on which will be decided to continue preflight crew training at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Encouraged by the “excellent” grade for the first examination training on the ISS, the main crew of the ISS-59/60 began today the final day of testing on the "Soyuz" spacecraft simulator. At the end of exams of the main crew of the ISS-59/60 the commission summarized the results of the second exam day.

The main crew of the ISS approached the most important stage of preparation at the GCTC - the complex exam training. During the examination session, the commission assesses the actions of the crew in the work with the equipment and life support systems at the station. The exam result also determines the reaction of future participants of a long expedition to emergency situations. The crew must timely detect the failure or mismatch of the ISS systems, determine the nature of the incident and promptly make a decision to get out of this situation. From the quality of their actions depends the score for the exam day.