The Russian cargo vehicle Progress MS-09 launched on July 9th 2018 carrying approximately 2400 kilograms of supplies for the International Space Station. A pretty typical resupply mission save for two interesting facts: 1: This mission was launched at such a time that it could dock faster than any previous mission to the ISS, spending a […]
I absolutely love the look of R-7 derived rockets – Soyuz, Molinya, Vostok, Voskhod, all of them look amazing to me. To think this is one of the oldest designs still in use – over 60 years old – and the core design is, quite literally, a converted nuclear missile, is something else. It’s a […]
I know, I’m behind on just about everything, but I didn’t want to pass up a chance to show a good old Soyuz launch – this one from back on February 13th carrying Progress MS-08 to the International Space Station for a standard resupply mission. It successfully docked 2 days later on February 15th. All […]
A few days after a rather unique pad abort, the Progress MS-07 supply craft successfully launched today for it’s rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station. As mentioned, the vehicle was delayed in launching following the abort the other day. Incidentally, that launch was timed for a very fast (read, about 3 hours) rendezvous […]
February 22nd, 2017 marked the end of an era: after 43 years, the final Soyuz-U vehicle launched from Pad 1/5, or “Gagarins Start” at Baikonour Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, sending the Progress 66 (Internally known as Progress MS-05) supply vehicle to the International Space Station. The Soyuz-U Booster variant is the most flown rocket configuration in history, […]