Space
Soyuz Space Mission Moved To A Later Date To Ensure Safety Of New Spacecraft
Johnson D
First Posted: Jun 09, 2016 05:00 AM EDT
The next Soyuz mission to bring astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) has been moved to July. However, the delay will not immediately affect the two U.S. cargo missions that are also scheduled to launch to the station that month.
According to Reuters, the launch was moved in order to ensure the safety of the first launch of the new "Soyuz-MS" spaceship, said the Russian space agency Roscosmos. According to Roscosmos there were additional tests that needed to be done to the spaceship's software. He also said that the decision of the state commission to do these tests was reached on Monday.
There were some reports from the Russian media earlier stated that there were actually concerns that the spacecraft would start rolling uncontrollably when it attempts to dock with the station. In April, a technical glitch forced a one-day postponement of the inaugural launch of an unmanned Soyuz rocket from Russia's new Vostochny spaceport in the Far East in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, who had specially travelled there to watch the event.
Russian Commander Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan's Takuya Onishi are due to take off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the "Soyuz-MS". The space mission is set to launch on the 7th of July instead of its original launch date on June 24.
Orbital ATK is planning to launch a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on its Antares rocket no earlier than July 6, while SpaceX is planning to launch a Dragon cargo spacecraft on a Falcon 9 which is set to launch early July 16. The said delay will not affect the departure of Soyuz TMA-19M that is currently on the station. The spacecraft is carrying Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, American astronaut Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peake, is set to return back to Earth on June 18, Space News reported.
NASA spokesman Dan Huot said on June 6 that the Dragon launch will push through with its scheduled for July 16, even though a Progress cargo spacecraft launch, also delayed because of the Soyuz issue, has been rescheduled for July 17. He said a formal launch date for the Cygnus mission will be announced after engineers have completed analyzing the static fire test of the Antares first stage that took place May 31.
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First Posted: Jun 09, 2016 05:00 AM EDT
The next Soyuz mission to bring astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) has been moved to July. However, the delay will not immediately affect the two U.S. cargo missions that are also scheduled to launch to the station that month.
According to Reuters, the launch was moved in order to ensure the safety of the first launch of the new "Soyuz-MS" spaceship, said the Russian space agency Roscosmos. According to Roscosmos there were additional tests that needed to be done to the spaceship's software. He also said that the decision of the state commission to do these tests was reached on Monday.
There were some reports from the Russian media earlier stated that there were actually concerns that the spacecraft would start rolling uncontrollably when it attempts to dock with the station. In April, a technical glitch forced a one-day postponement of the inaugural launch of an unmanned Soyuz rocket from Russia's new Vostochny spaceport in the Far East in the presence of President Vladimir Putin, who had specially travelled there to watch the event.
Russian Commander Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japan's Takuya Onishi are due to take off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the "Soyuz-MS". The space mission is set to launch on the 7th of July instead of its original launch date on June 24.
Orbital ATK is planning to launch a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on its Antares rocket no earlier than July 6, while SpaceX is planning to launch a Dragon cargo spacecraft on a Falcon 9 which is set to launch early July 16. The said delay will not affect the departure of Soyuz TMA-19M that is currently on the station. The spacecraft is carrying Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, American astronaut Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peake, is set to return back to Earth on June 18, Space News reported.
NASA spokesman Dan Huot said on June 6 that the Dragon launch will push through with its scheduled for July 16, even though a Progress cargo spacecraft launch, also delayed because of the Soyuz issue, has been rescheduled for July 17. He said a formal launch date for the Cygnus mission will be announced after engineers have completed analyzing the static fire test of the Antares first stage that took place May 31.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone