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Russian space program in 2024 At the end of January 2024, Deputy Defense Minister Aleksei Krivoruchko promised 18 orbital launches of military spacecraft before the end of the year. Seven launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles were also planned for 2024. In total more than 40 orbital launches were planned by Roskosmos, according to an interview of its head Yuri Borisov published on February 19. However, Borisov cautioned that it was only a plan which would be difficult to fulfill given the experience in the previous year. For missions in 2023 click here
The world's orbital launch attempts in 2024 (as of March 18, 2024 ):
The 2024 space launch score card (as of March 18, 2024 ):
Planned Russian space launches in 2024: March 21, 17:21 Moscow Time: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch the Soyuz MS-25 (No. 756) spacecraft with a crew of three from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the Russian Segment of the ISS at 20:39 Moscow Time on the day of the launch and open hatches into the station around 23:10 Moscow Time. As of 2014, the first launch of a Soyuz crew vehicle to the ISS was penciled for March 30, 2024, but during much of 2023, the Soyuz MS-25 mission was expected to lift off on March 13, 2024. However by the end of 2023, the launch was re-scheduled for March 21, 2024, reportedly not to coincide with "presidential elections" in Russia. Originally, Russian cosmonauts Aleksei Ovchinin and Oleg Platonov were to be joined by a visiting crew member from Belarus. As of May 2023, Belorussian authorities were expected to appoint a flight attendant from the Belavia airline Marina Vasilevskaya as the primary candidate and a pediatric doctor Anastasiya Lenkova as her backup. Vasilevskaya and Lenkova arrived to Star City to begin their eight-month training for the flight on July 23, 2023. By that time, Vasilevskaya was expected to make a 12-day visit to the ISS, accompanied by Roskosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson. Vasilevskaya and Novitsky were slated to land aboard the returning Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft, as members of Visiting Crew No. 21, along with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, completing a long-duration stay on the ISS. In the meantime, Dyson would remain aboard the ISS for a multi-month shift on the station. The Soyuz MS-25 backup crew included Roskosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Donald Pettit. On Aug. 15, 2023, the Chief Medical Commission at the Cosmonaut Training Center recommended the removal of Oleg Platonov from the backup crew of Soyuz MS-24 and Expeditions 70 and 71. As a result, Aleksei Ovchinin was left as a backup to both Russian members of the Soyuz MS-24 crew. The Soyuz-2-1a rocket for the mission arrived at Baikonur and delivered to vehicle assembly building at Site 112 on Sept. 11, 2023. Then, Soyuz MS-25 was delivered to the launch site from RKK Energia, along with the Progress MS-27 cargo ship, on Sept. 14, 2023. After a period in a storage mode since the second half of December 2023, the preparations resumed on January 11, 2024 with test activation of onboard equipment followed by a series of integrated electric tests. On January 25, Roskosmos announced the return of the spacecraft from the anechoic chamber at Site 254 after testing of radio equipment in the ship's Kurs-NA rendezvous system. From Feb. 7 to Feb. 13, 2024, Soyuz MS-25 was transported into the vacuum chamber at Site 254 for air leak checks. The tests continued until February 13, when the spacecraft was returned back to its work site for testing of the propulsion (INSIDER CONTENT) and descent control systems, followed by onboard flight control computer, radio system tests. Also, the ship's thermal control system (INSIDER CONTENT) would be filled with coolant. On Feb. 19, 2024, the Emergency Escape System, SAS, for the Soyuz MS-25 mission was delivered to the launch site and on February 27, the ship's solar panels were put to a routine test. By March 6, 2024, specialists working inside the vehicle assembly building at Site 31, connected four boosters of the first stage to the core (second) stage booster of the Soyuz-2-1a rocket for the Soyuz MS-25 mission. On the same day, the primary and backup crews of the Soyuz MS-25 mission arrived at Baikonur after landing at the spaceport's Krainy airfield. On March 7, 2024, both crews conducted first "fit tests" inside the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, including donning their Sokol-KV2 pressure suits and take their seats inside the Descent Module (INSIDER CONTENT). On the same day, a meeting of the technical management at the launch site cleared the spacecraft for irreversible operations including loading of propellant components and pressurized gases. The fueling was completed on March 11, 2024, when the spacecraft was returned to its processing building at Site 254. On March 12, 2024, Soyuz MS-25 was integrated with its launch vehicle adapter, which served as an interface between the spacecraft and the third stage of the Soyuz-2-1a rocket. Before the operation, specialists performed final weighting of the spacecraft and completed placement of cargo onboard. On March 13, specialists completed a traditional visual inspection of the spacecraft, after which it was lowered in horizontal position and rolled inside payload fairing. The resulting assembly was then prepared for launch readiness simulation and then specialists loaded cargo intended for delivery to the ISS into habitable compartments of the spacecraft, RKK Energia said. On March 15, the crews conducted second and final familiarization training inside the flight-ready Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft, which included taking seats inside the Descent Module (INSIDER CONTENT) and inspecting cargo inside the Habitation Module. The payload section with the spacecraft was then loaded on a rail transporter and transferred from the spacecraft processing building at Site 254 to the launch vehicle assembly building at Site 31. The integration of the payload section with its Soyuz-2-1a rocket was completed on March 16, after which the State Commission overseeing the campaign, authorized the rollout to the launch pad which took place as scheduled on March 18, 2024. March 30: A Soyuz-2-1b rocket to launch the Resurs-P No. 4 satellite from Site 31 in Baikonur. (As of September 2023, the launch was expected in mid-November 2023, but by that time, it had slipped into 2024. In early 2024, the launch was expected on March 30, 2024.) According to Roskosmos, the preparation for the fueling of the spacecraft started in Baikonur around March 7, 2024, and the spacecraft itself was delivered to the launch site by March 11, 2024. April 5-15: An Angara-5 rocket to fly its first mission (INSIDER CONTENT) from its new launch pad in Vostochny. May 21: A Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket to launch a pair of Ionosfera-M satellites and a cluster of secondary payloads from Pad 1S in Vostochny. The launch was planned for Dec. 5, 2023, but in September 2023, it was pushed back until Dec. 10, 2023, at 02:18 Moscow Time, and to Dec 12, 2023. By November 2023, the mission was postponed until May 2024. June 3: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Progress MS-27 from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014) Progress MS-27 was delivered to Baikonur, along with Soyuz MS-25, on Sept. 14, 2023. By November 2023, the launch was re-scheduled from April 16, 2024, to May 30, 2024, and in early January 2024, it was expected on June 3, 2024. June 8: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Kondor-FKA No. 2 satellite from Pad 1S in Vostochny. (As of March 2023) Second quarter of 2024: A Soyuz-2.1a rocket to launch the Obzor-R remote-sensing satellite. In early 2024, the launch was expected in the second quarter of that year. July: Russia to launch Elektro-M No. 2-2 weather-forecasting satellite. August 15: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Progress MS-28 from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014, the launch was panciled for July 1, but by the Fall of 2023, the launch drifted to Aug. 15, 2024. The delivery of the spacecraft to Baikonur was reported on Nov. 29, 2023. August: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch the Bion-M No. 2 satellite. (In 2013, the launch was expected in 2016-2017, however by mid-2014 it was delayed to 2019. In 2015, the mission was re-scheduled for 2021 and by the end of 2018, it was postponed until 2023. The 2023 launch date was reconfirmed in 2019. By that time, it was postponed until 2024.) September 11: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch a Soyuz MS-26 (Production No. 757) with a crew of three from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014) In March 2023, Roskosmos reported that Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Aleksei Zubritsky and Aleksandr Gorbunov were assigned to be a backup crew for Expedition 72, which included Sergei Ryzhikov and Mikaev. Kud-Sverchkov's crew was also expected to serve as a primary crew during the first Russian expedition to the ISS in 2025. After post-production tests in Korolev in the Fall of 2023, Soyuz MS-26 was shipped to Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 18, 2023. It was unloaded at the processing site at Site 254 in Baikonur on Dec. 25, 2023. October 16: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Progress cargo ship from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014)
For missions in 2025 click here
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