Russia's space program breaks their main launch pad!

[thewayne]

This is bad, for both Russia and the USA.

There was a successful launch Thursday from Pad 31 in Kazakstan of a Soyuz rocket carrying two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut to the ISS. But there was a problem on the ground.

One of the launch tower's moving platforms that is used to inspect and service the rocket was not properly secured prior to launch. The blast from the rocket passing the platform blew it down into the flame trench, causing a lot of damage to the pad, probably the tower, and presumably destroying the platform - which weighed 20 tons. Roscomos, the agency that runs the Russian space program (roughly the equivalent of NASA) claims that the damage will be repaired shortly. However, so many materials in manpower, money, and actual physical materials have been diverted to their failing war effort against Ukraine that this might not happen. One specific example of how Roscomos is being squeezed is that they used to send four crews to the ISS annually, now they're sending three.

While Russia has many launch facilities through its countries and neighbors, i.e. former USSR countries, Pad 31 is currently the only launch pad that can be used to send Soyuz and Proton rockets to the ISS. Pad 1 at the Kazakstan facility - where Uri Gregarin launched from - could be used, but it's been decommissioned and is being turned into a museum.

The Soyuz launches are used for crew/supply missions, the Proton launches are solely supply runs but also used to boost the ISS into a higher orbit. Fortunately NASA can also use SpaceX Dragons and Northrop Grumman’s Cygnusfor boost and also for supply.

This will also put some pressure on SpaceX as they've been having some problems with their super-heavy booster, trying to get it reliable enough to get people to the Moon and allegedly to Mars, not to mention their lunar lander being so far behind schedule that NASA is sending out an SOS contract for someone else to come up with another lander, otherwise SpaceX's tardiness will delay the USA going back to the Moon.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/russian-launch-pad-incident-raises-concerns-about-future-of-space-station/

Comments

[disneydream06]

WOWZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I thought the Cryptographer were in a mess.

I am surprised that we are still sending people up with the Russians. :o :o :o
And sharing the station. :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

Americans fly up on Russian launches, Russians fly up on American launches.  It's a demonstration of teamwork, they've been doing it for decades.  It's also to maintain tech and procedural familiarity in case people get disabled.

[disneydream06]

Maybe instead of spending all their money trying to take over The Ukraine, they should spend some of it on their space mission stuff. :oi

[thewayne]

Space science contributes a lot to humanity and base scientific knowledge.  For example, velcro was developed for the space program.  There's been a lot contributed to the medical field.  One very curious discovery was made: they mixed oil and vinegar in space, it might have been on a shuttle mission, I don't recall, and after it came back down - it did not separate!  I don't know if they ever figured out what the reason for it was.  But space science is very valuable.

[disneydream06]

Weird about the oil and vinegar. :o

[ranunculus]

Don't forget that Blue Origin finally got a heavy successfully launched, and back onto a launch pad, and I believe sent supplies to the ISS. If Pad 31 is down for an extended time it might just be what Blue Origin needs...

[thewayne]

Indeed they did!  If you like geeking out over space and launches, there's an excellent news letter called Jonathan's Space Report.  You can view issues and subscribe to it at Jonathan's Space Report.  The guy is an astrophysicist at the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and he catalogs and talks about every space launch!

[ranunculus]

My partner, Donald F. Robertson, has been a space journalist since long before we met in the late 1990's. Don't bother going to his website, it hasn't been updated since 2010. He began his writing career for Jane's Information Group and now does articles for various trade journals. I often proof read his articles.

[thewayne]

Very cool! I had an uncle who was a telecommunications engineer, he did some work at the Goldstone facility during the Apollo and Soyuz days. Sadly, he passed away before I had the knowledge to be able to talk to him about it in a meaningful way.

I screwed up and left off the URL of Jonathan's web site:
https://planet4589.org/jcm/index.html

[warriorsavant]

If can't launch a human-crew capable vehicle, how are we going to retrieve the crew? Ask the Chinese (they were having their own problems, but sent up a spare capsule unmanned so the orbiting crew would have a way home if needed in emergencies).

[thewayne]

Yeah.  It's a pretty serious problem.  I'm not sure if the Chinese capsules are still compatible with Russian hardware.

[warriorsavant]

I suppose they could just pull up along side (however you say that in orbital mechanics) and space walk from one to the other.

[silveradept]

I have a suspicion that this incident is going to be very profitable for several well-connected people, and then turn out to be entirely unfit for purpose on the next launch. Unless the oligarch in charge is able to put pressure on his friends to actually do it right for reasons they're willing to go along with.