![]() |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Russian space program in 2021 On February 20, Head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin paid a visit to the Kremlin for a report to the president on the year-end status of the Russian space sector. In a public transcript of his exchange with Vladimir Putin, Rogozin said that 29 space launches had been planned for 2021, including missions postponed from the previous year, referring primarily to the OneWeb Internet satellites, but also to the long-delayed launch of the Luna-25 lander and the Obzor-R radar-carrying satellite. Two modules for the Russian Segment of the International Space Station, ISS, (Nauka and Prichal) were also promised to fly. Finally, one Angara-5 and two Angara-1.2 launchers were scheduled to continue flight testing of the new rocket family. According to Rogozin, the Russian civilian satellite constellation included 89 spacecraft at the time. For missions in 2020 click here
A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifts off on February 2, 2021.
The world's orbital launch attempts in 2021 (as of April 13, 2021 ):
The 2021 space launch score card (as of April 13, 2021 ):
Planned Russian orbital launches in 2021: April 26, 01:14 Moscow Time: A Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket to launch the sixth cluster of OneWeb satellites from the Soyuz launch facility in Vostochny. (As of March 25, 2021) On March 29, 2021, a booster cluster consisting of the four modules of the first stage and the core module of the second stage was moved from a storage position to a worksite for processing and testing inside the launch vehicle processing building in Vostochny. In parallel, the specialists began working with the segments of the payload fairing for the same vehicle, Roskosmos said on March 30. According to the State Corporation, the Fregat stage for the mission was undergoing fueling at the fueling station scheduled to continue until April 11, 2021. The transport aircraft carrying 36 satellites for the mission departed Florida on April 3, 2021, and, after landing at the Ignatievo airfield near Blagoveshensk and ground transportation to Vostochny, their processing officially started on April 6, 2021. The launch would increase the number of satellites in the OneWeb constellation from 146 to 182. Booster stages of the Soyuz rocket for the sixth OneWeb mission are being transferred to a test worksite on March 29, 2021. May 27: A Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket to launch the seventh OneWeb mission (carrying 36 satellites) from the Soyuz launch facility in Vostochny. (As of April 2021) June 30: A Soyuz-2-1a rocket to launch the Progress MS-17 cargo ship (Production No. 446, ISS mission 78P) from Baikonur to the International Space Station, ISS. During the early planning of the ISS flight manifest in 2014, the first Russian cargo mission of 2021 was planned for February 22, however by August 2020, the launch of Progress MS-17 was projected on March 19, 2021. By November 2020, the start of the mission slipped to June 30. Roskosmos announced the arrival of the spacecraft at Baikonur on March 11, 2020. According to the August 2020 plan, Progress MS-17 was to initially dock to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module, SM. However, in case of a successful arrival of the MLM Nauka module at the station in April 2021, Progress MS-17 would be re-docked to the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the newly arrived component at the end of July 2021. The move will allow Roskosmos to prepare the next step in the expansion of the Russian Segment, this time with the UM Prichal node module. Upon the launch of Prichal, then scheduled for September 6, 2021, the Progress MS-17 will be undocked from Nauka's nadir port, carrying with it a special extension on Nauka's docking mechanism, which was custom-designed for cargo ships and crew vehicles. As a result, the Prichal module will then be able to dock to the reconfigured port on Nauka on September 8, 2021, forming a wider passageway than was available through the adapter, which had been discarded with Progress MS-17. If everything goes according to the August 2020 plan, Progress MS-17 will log 179 days in space. July 1: A Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket to launch the eighths OneWeb mission (carrying 36 satellites) from the Soyuz launch facility in Vostochny. (As of April 2021) Mid-July: A Proton rocket to launch the MLM Nauka multi-purpose module to join the Russian Segment of the International Space Station, ISS. On January 19, 2021, Roskosmos announced that its specialists had completed 80 percent of the planned checks. They included tests of the TV communications system, consisting of TV antenna feeders, TV circuitry, decoding hardware and TV connections at crew work places. The tests also covered the main and backup sets of the thermal control system, components of the propulsion system (Insider Content) and the motion control and navigation system. The specialists also tested pressurization of the propellant supply system in the high-pressure and low-pressure tanks of the module. A pair of Proton rockets, along with a Briz-M stage and its payload fairing departed GKNPTs Khrunichev factory for Baikonur during the night from March 15 to 16. According to Roskosmos, the Proton-M/Briz-M rocket was intended for the Luch-5x relay satellite, even though no such spacecraft was known to be in final development at the time. Instead, that rocket was intended for the second Olymp military satellite. As of March 2021, preparations of the Nauka module have remained on schedule for launch in July of the same year, an industry source told RussianSpaceWeb.com. The MLM module during processing on Nov. 12, 2020. October 5: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft (Production No. 749, ISS mission 65S) from Baikonur to the International Space Station, ISS. During the early planning of the ISS flight manifest in 2014, the launch of the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft was planned for September 13, 2021, however in the provisional schedule prepared by Roskosmos at the end of August 2020, the launch of Soyuz MS-19 was slated for October 5, 2021. At that time, the spacecraft was expected to carry three Russian cosmonauts: Anton Shkaplerov, Sergei Babkin and Mukhtar Aimakhanov, members of the 66th long-duration expedition to the ISS. (By the end of August 2020, Sergei Korsakov replaced Aimakhanov on the crew.) However, in 2020, Roskosmos and the Channel I of the Russian television also discussed sending an actress to the ISS with Soyuz MS-19 to shoot scenes for a sci-fi movie. In October 2020, Channel I promised to start casting for the project. If the August 2020 schedule worked as planned, Soyuz MS-19 would become the first crew vehicle docking to the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the UM Prichal module added to the Russian Segment of the station less than a month earlier. At the time, the Soyuz MS-19 mission was expected to last 174 days and land on March 28, 2022. However, in the November 2020, draft of the ISS flight manifest, the docking destination for the Soyuz MS-19 mission was shifted to the MIM1 Rassvet module. The mission's launch date (October 5) and its docking destination on the Rassvet module was confirmed in the official ISS flight manifest approved by Roskosmos on Feb. 3, 2021. At the time, the mission was expected to last for 174 days, until March 28, 2022. October 28: A Soyuz rocket to launch a Progress MS-18 cargo ship (Production No. 447, ISS mission 79P) from Baikonur to the International Space Station, ISS. During the early planning of the ISS flight manifest in 2014, the second Russian cargo mission of 2021 was planned for April 16, 2021, however in the provisional schedule prepared by Roskosmos at the end of August 2020, the launch of Progress MS-18 was planned for August 18. By November 2020, the start of the mission slipped to October 28. At the time, the vehicle was expected to dock to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module, SM, and remain in orbit for 334 days, supporting 65th and 66th long-duration expeditions aboard the ISS. October-November: A Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket to launch the Luna-Glob (Luna-25) lunar lander from Vostochny. November 17: A Soyuz rocket to launch a Progress MS-19 cargo ship (Production No. 449, ISS mission 80P) from Baikonur to the International Space Station, ISS. During the early planning of the ISS flight manifest in 2014, Progress launches were planned for July 1 and October 16, 2021, however in the provisional schedule prepared by Roskosmos at the end of August 2020, the third and final launch of the Russian cargo vehicle to the station in 2021 was planned for November 17. Progress MS-19 was expected to dock to the zenit (sky-facing) port of the MIM2 Poisk module and continue its mission for 286 days. November 24: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch the UM Prichal module to the International Space Station, ISS. November 30: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch the Meteor-M No. 2-3 remote-sensing satellite and a group of secondary payloads, including a pair of satellites from Moscow State Univeristy, MGU, from Vostochny. (As of April 2021. As of second half of 2020, the launch was expected between August and October 2021). End of November: A Soyuz-ST/Fregat rocket (Mission VS26) to launch a pair of Galileo navigation satellites from the ELS facility near Kourou, French Guiana. (As of April 2020, the mission was planned for December 15, 2020, but was later delayed until early 2021 and by the beginning of 2021, the mission slipped to the middle of the year and later shifted to October 2021. By March 2021, the launch was planned at the end of November of that year. December 8: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft (Production No. 752, ISS mission 66S) with a crew of three from Site 31 in Baikonur to the International Space Station, ISS. By July 2020, a pair of tourists accompanied by one professional cosmonaut was assigned to the 12-day flight, officially designated Visiting Expedition-20. According to a preliminary flight manifest drafted by Roskosmos at the end of August 2020, the Soyuz MS-20 mission was expected to take place from December 8 to December 20, 2021. According to the original plans, the spacecraft was to dock at the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the MIM1 Rassvet module, a part of the ISS' Russian Segment, however by November 2020, its destination on the ISS was switched to the MIM2 Poisk module. Soyuz MS-20 was scheduled to land with the same crew on December 20, 2021, after eight days in orbit. Second half of 2021: A Proton-M/Briz-M rocket to launch the Ekspress-AMU3 and Ekspress-AMU7 communications satellites from Baikonur. End of 2021: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch a cluster of small payloads from Vostochny, including the second StriX-β radar imaging demonstration satellite. (As of March 2021) Uncertain dates 2021 July 1: A Soyuz rocket to launch a Progress cargo ship from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014) 2021: A Proton-M/Block DM-03 rocket to launch Elektro-L No. 4 satellite from Baikonur. (As of 2019) Delayed from 2020: An Angara-1.2 rocket to launch the South-Korean Kompsat-6 remote-sensing satellite from Site 35 in Plesetsk. The agreement for the launch in 2020 was announced in July 2016. 2021: A Soyuz-2-1a rocket to launch the second Kondor-FKA radar-carrying satellite. (As of 2019. Postponed from 2019, switched from Rockot/Briz-KM) Around or after 2021: Russian military to launch the first new-generation Sfera-V military communications satellite. (As of 2016) 2021: A Soyuz-2.1b rocket to launch an Arktika-M (No. 4) satellite. (As of 2010, the mission was expected in 2019. (411) In 2015, the launch postponed until 2021.) 2021: A Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket to launch the Luna-Glob-2 (orbiter) toward the Moon. 2021: A Soyuz-5 launch vehicle to fly its first test mission (As of mid-2014).
Cancelled missions 2021: Russia to launch the Ekspress-AT4 communications satellite (as of 2014). 2021: Russia to launch the Ekspress-AT5 communications satellite (as of 2014). 2021: Russia to launch the Ekspress-AMU8 communications satellite (as of 2014). 2021: Russia to launch the first of two Vozvrat-MKA spacecraft. (Postponed indefinitely in April 2015)
|
|
![]() |