Katya’s space news

Roscosmos reported that the forest fires near the closed city of Tsiolovskiy, which serves the nearby #Vostochny cosmodrome, are localized at the moment, there is no threat to the city. All departments of the cosmodrome are operating normally. The videos of the fire can be found here: https://t.co/eHX03VGDxw. Here is the statement of Roscosmos: https://t.co/LQgtKgqHA7

The launch of #BionM No2 satellite is currently scheduled for July 20 at 15:13 UTC by Soyuz 2.1a rocket from Baikonur Pad 31.

Pavel Shubin, famous space exploration historian and expert in Soviet space industry, believes that there's a small chance that the capsule of #kosmos482 may have positive buoyancy and theoretically can be found floating on the surface by one of the nearby ships. https://t.me/pole_of_the_moon/321

According to Roscosmos, the reentry of #kosmos482 took place at 6:24 UTC, 560 km west of the island of Middle Andaman, and it fell in the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta.

There will be two flight models of #Luna27, confirmed the new head of Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov in his interview. In the best Soviet traditions, Luna-27 will be build with a backup spacecraft. If the first one succeeds, the second one will be launched to a different location.

The #ISS orbit correction was performed today at 22:10 UTC due to the space debris alert. The engines of #ProgressMS30 fired for 212.79 seconds with ab impulse of 0.3 m/sec, increasing the station's orbit altitude for 540 m. According to Roscosmos, which is surprisingly generous with accurate data today, after the avoidance maneuver the station's orbital period is 92.89 minutes, the inclination of the orbit 51.66 degrees, the average orbit altitude is 418.74 km (minimum 417.86 km, maximum 438.05 km).

The launch of the #SpektrUV space observatory is now scheduled for 2031. The previous launch date was 2029. Originally it was 1997.

A planned #ISS orbit correction was performed today at 00:08 UTC. The engines of #ProgressMS30 fired for 639.7 seconds with an impulse of 1.22 m/s. The station’s average orbit altitude was increased by 2.1 km and became 419 km above the Earth.

Today is the landing day! #SoyuzMS26 with Aleksey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit is ready to return home. The hatches between the ship and the ISS are closed now. The undocking is scheduled for 21:58 UTC, the landing should happen at 01:21 UTC.

The #BionM No. 2 launch will take place between of July and September 2025, said Sergei Chernishyov, the vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Currently, the spacecraft undergoes various numerous tests.

The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan reported that during the first half of 2025 it is planned to accept from the Russian side the facilities of Site No. 1 (Gagarin's Start) to create an open-air museum complex on Baikonur. Currently, the whole territory, buildings and equipment of Baikonur belongs to Kazakhstan, but it is rented by Russia until 2050. A few years ago, Roscosmos suggested to give the Site No. 1 complex, last time used in 2019, back to Kazakhstan to turn it into a museum. There was an idea to modernize it for new versions of Soyuz 2 rockets in cooperation with Kazakhstan and UAE, but in 2022 due to the new sanctions a need in a second Soyuz launch site on Baikonur became questionable, and UAE quit.

Today is the Cosmonautics Day. I wish more people today remember great words of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space: "Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!"

The #Fregat upper stage to launch the #IonosferaM No. 3 and 4 satellites arrived at Vostochny cosmodrome. The launch is scheduled for July 26 on Soyuz 2.1b.

📸 Байконур сегодня порадовал зрителей красивым пуском! Делимся снимками со стартовой площадки! Фото: Иван Тимошенко

Congratulation to Roscosmos with the successful launch! #SoyuzMS27

The launch of #SoyuzMS27 with Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexei Zubritskiy and Jonny Kim @JonnyKimUSA is in half an hour! Don’t miss the stream! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC807gzD9l8

#Soyuz2.1a with #SoyuzMS27 spaceship has been assembled on Pad 31 of Baikonur. The rollout is scheduled for April 5. The launch is planned for April 8, at 05:47 UTC. Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexei Zubritskiy and Jonny Kim @JonnyKimUSA will arrive at the ISS on the same day at 09:03 UTC.

I was asked on Twitter yesterday some questions about this close view of the Soyuz rocket engines. I thought some of you might be interested in the answers too. Q: Katya, do you know the function of the red lacquer of the engine nozzle? Beside the fact it looks very cool. A: This is not a lacquer, this are the removable protection cones, and they are red like "remove before flight" labels on the plane, so the launch team can easily see all what should be removed before the launch. Q: What’s the red barrel thing next to the bells? A: These are containers with silica gel. There should be no condensation in the tanks and pipelines until refueling. Moisture can create problems for the engine. Therefore, the air is forced through a drying system, part of which this "barrel" with silica gel is.

Soyuz 2.1a with #SoyuzMS23 crewed spacecraft has been rolled out to the launch pad this morning.

#Soyuz2.1a with #SoyuzMS27 spaceship has been assembled on Pad 31 of Baikonur. The rollout is scheduled for April 5. The launch is planned for April 8, at 05:47 UTC. Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexei Zubritskiy and Jonny Kim @JonnyKimUSA will arrive at the ISS on the same day at 09:03 UTC.