(Moscow) A Russian Soyuz spacecraft with the first Belarusian cosmonaut in history, Marina Vassilevskaya, on board successfully took off on Saturday towards the ISS from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, announced the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
“The Soyuz took off from Baikonur”, in the Kazakh steppes, at 8:36 a.m., Roscosmos said in a press release, specifying that the orbiting of the spacecraft “went as planned”.
Initially scheduled for Thursday, the takeoff of the Soyuz spacecraft was canceled at the last moment while the rocket was on the launch pad, and postponed until Saturday.
This postponement represented a new setback for the Russian space sector, which has been struggling for years due to financing problems, corruption scandals and failures such as the loss of the Luna-25 lunar probe in August 2023.
According to the boss of Roscomos, Yuri Borissov, the cause of the cancellation of the first takeoff is linked to “a drop in voltage of the chemical current source” of the Soyuz.
The ship’s crew is made up of American astronaut Tracy Dyson, experienced Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vassilevskaya, the first Belarusian cosmonaut, aged 33.
“Everything is fine on board,” assured Mr. Novitski, shortly after takeoff, according to video images broadcast live by Roscosmos.
PHOTO PROVIDED TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The Soyuz took off from Baikonur”, in the Kazakh steppes, at 8:36 a.m., Roscosmos said in a press release, specifying that the orbiting of the spacecraft “went as planned”.
At the end of a long flight of approximately 50 and a half hours, the Soyuz must dock Monday at 11:10 a.m. with the Pritchal module, itself attached to the Naouka module docked with the Russian segment of the International Space Station, according to Roscosmos.
The Russian space sector, which has historically been the pride of the country, has suffered several embarrassing setbacks in recent years.
Three Russian space vehicles docked on the Russian segment of the ISS have experienced coolant leaks in recent months. In August, the first Russian probe sent to the Moon from the USSR crashed on the lunar surface.
These failures have not reduced the ambitions of Russia, which wants to end its participation in the ISS after 2024 to concentrate on the construction of its own space station.
The Russian space sector is also limited by its lack of innovation, most of its systems relying on Soviet technologies, which are generally reliable but aging.
Soyuzes were for a long time the only way to reach the International Space Station while Roscosmos has now been facing competition for several years from private companies, such as billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Russian-Western cooperation in the space field has also been weighed down by the Russian offensive against Ukraine launched in February 2022 and the sanctions that followed. The ISS constitutes one of the rare areas of cooperation still in progress between Moscow and Washington.