Sharjah 24 – Reuters:
Russia has resumed its ability to send cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) with the successful launch of a Soyuz rocket from a repaired launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Russian space agency reported that the Soyuz-2.1a rocket, carrying the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft, lifted off at 12:00 GMT on Sunday and entered orbit. The agency anticipates the spacecraft will dock with the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the ISS on March 24.
Significant Damage in November
The launchpad had been out of service since sustaining substantial damage in November during the launch of the Soyuz M.S-18 spacecraft, which carried two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut.
While the crew safely reached the ISS, the incident left Russia without a means of launching either crew or supplies to the station for several months.
Baikonur’s Unique Capabilities
Although Russia maintains other spaceports within its territory, and Baikonur itself has other launch sites, the damaged launchpad was the only facility equipped to handle the Soyuz rockets used to transport both crew capsules and Progress cargo spacecraft to the ISS.
