Another Soyuz rocket launch fails

[ via BBC News / Science and Environment ] 23 Dec

Russia's recent poor launch record has continued with yet another Soyuz rocket failure.

This time, a Soyuz-2 vehicle failed to put a communications satellite into orbit after lifting away from the country's Plesetsk spaceport.

Debris is said to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near the western Siberian town of Tobolsk.

Friday's rocket was carrying a Meridian-5 satellite, designed to provide communication between ships, planes and coastal stations on the ground, according to RIA Novosti.

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Soyuz launches sharp-eyed Pleiades satellite

[ via BBC Science and Environment ] 17 Dec

A Russian Soyuz rocket has launched from French Guiana - only the second such vehicle to fly out of the territory's new Sinnamary spaceport.

The Soyuz put six satellites in orbit, including France's new Pleiades-1 high-resolution imaging spacecraft.

This satellite is designed to take pictures that resolve features on the ground as small as 50cm across. The capability will put it on a par with the leading US commercial systems operated by GeoEye and DigitalGlobe.

Lift-off occurred on schedule at 23:03 local time, Friday (02:03 GMT, Saturday), with Pleiades-1 being dropped off in its 700km-high polar orbit some 55 minutes later.

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Soyuz capsule brings back three astronauts in Kazakhstan

Full Story: The Times of India 22 Nov

Three astronauts aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan early Tuesday morning. 

Th three astronauts from International Space Station (ISS) included NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency.

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Russia Soyuz spacecraft docks ISS

Full Story: BBC Europe 16 Nov

Russian spacecraft Soyuz, carrying two Russians and one America, has successfully docked with ISS at 05:24 GMT. The spacecraft was sent off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday. The Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS after the US ended its shuttle programme earlier this year.

The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow says the launch and progress of the Soyuz, designed in the 1960s, was a nervous moment for both NASA and the Russians, after the failure of the Progress cargo rocket in August this year.

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Russian Soyuz blasts off for ISS

Full Story: BBC Europe 14 November 2011

Soyuz blasts off from Kazakhstan

Today at 04:14 GMT, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, carrying two Russian and one American astronaut on board blasted off from Kazakhstan's snow-covered steppes to take its passengers to the International Space Station.

Once safely in orbit, the three astronauts gave a thumbs-up signal to cameras on board the craft and said: "Everything is normal and we are feeling fine". Applause broke out at the mission control centre in a northern Moscow suburb, reports BBC.

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