MOSCOW, December 1The Soyuz-2.1a rocket with the Progress MS-25 cargo spacecraft, which will go to the International Space Station, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the launch is broadcast by Roscosmos.
In less than nine minutes, the rocket will launch the ship into low-Earth orbit, it will separate from its third stage and begin its independent flight to the ISS. The docking is scheduled for 14.15 Moscow time on December 3. The spacecraft is expected to remain in orbit for 179 days.
The new truck carries more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, including fuel, drinking water and nitrogen, as well as resource equipment, food, medical and sanitary and hygienic products.
In addition, on board the Progress MS-25 there are facilities for conducting scientific experiments – in particular, an incubator for studying the development of embryos in quail eggs in outer space and equipment for studying corrosion, which will be installed in outer space.
Before launch, the rocket was decorated with images dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the flight of the reusable spacecraft Buran (held on November 15, 1988), the Decade of Science and Technology announced in Russia in 2022-2031, and the Future Games tournament, which will be held in Kazan in 2024.
In addition, a poster was pasted onto the fairing of Soyuz-2.1a in honor of the centenary of the birth (celebrated on August 29) of the first head of the Main Directorate of Space Facilities of the USSR Ministry of Defense, Alexander Maksimov. As a military representative, he supervised the creation of the R-7 rocket at OKB-1 (now RSC Energia), and was the secretary of the state commission during the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, as well as during the launch of Gagarin’s spacecraft. Under the leadership of Maksimov, the GLONASS system was tested, and the Buran reusable spaceplane was being developed.
The launch on the first day of winter was the fourth flight of a Russian cargo ship to the ISS this year, as well as the 15th launch of a Russian rocket this year.
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolay Chub and Konstantin Borisov, NASA astronauts Loral O'Hara and Jasmine Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are currently working at the station.< br />
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