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Russian space program in 2024

For missions in 2023 click here


 

Planned Russian space launches in 2024:

February 15: A Soyuz-2.1a rocket to launch the Progress MS-26 cargo ship from Baikonur to the International Space Station, ISS. On May 16, 2023, RKK Energia shipped Progress MS-26 to Baikonur, after completion of assembly and integrated tests. It arrived at the launch site on May 19, 2023. The Soyuz-2-1a rocket for the mission arrived at Baikonur and delivered to vehicle assembly building at Site 112 on Sept. 11, 2023. The launch was initially penciled for February 22, but by the middle of 2023, it was scheduled for Feb. 15, 2024.


March 13: 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. (As of 2014, the first launch of a Soyuz crew vehicle to the ISS was penciled for March 30, 2024, but by 2023, the Soyuz MS-25 mission was scheduled for liftoff on March 13, 2024.)

Originally, Russian cosmonauts Aleksei Ovchinin and Oleg Platonov were to be joined by a visiting crew member from Belarus. As of May 2023, Belarussian 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, 2024. 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, the Soyuz MS-25 was delivered to the launch site from RKK Energia, along with the Progress MS-27 cargo ship, on Sept. 14, 2023.


April 16: 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.


June 8: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Kondor-FKA No. 2 satellite from Pad 1S in Vostochny. (As of March 2023)


July 1: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Progress cargo ship from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014)


July: Russia to launch Elektro-M No. 2-2 weather-forecasting satellite.


September 13: 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.


October 16: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch Progress cargo ship from Baikonur toward the International Space Station, ISS. (As of 2014)


 

Postponed from previous years:

2023 August-December 26: The Angara-5M rocket to fly its first mission from its new launch pad in Vostochny. (As of October 2018, reconfirmed in August 2019. During Presdient Putin's visit to Vostochny in September 2019, Head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin claimed that the launch was planned for August 2023.)


2023: A Soyuz-2 rocket to launch a pair of Aist-2T remote-sensing satellites from Vostochny. (As of 2021. In February 2020, the launch was promised in November 2022.)


2023: A Soyuz-2.1b rocket to launch the 2,100-kilogram Arktika-M No. 2 remote-sensing satellite. Th launch was originally promised in 2016. In 2015, postponed from 2018 to 2019. By 2018, the launch was postponed to 2021 and by 2021, the mission was expected in 2023.


2023: A Soyuz-MS spacecraft with one pilot and two tourists to make a short visit to the ISS. One of the tourists might perform a spacewalk in the company of a professional cosmonaut. Roskosmos announced signing the agreement for the mission with US-based Space Adventures on June 25, 2020.


2023: A Russian Soyuz-2-1a rocket to launch the Russo-Belorussian Spacecraft, (INSIDER CONTENT), from Vostochny (As of 2019).


2023: A Soyuz-2.1b rocket to launch the Arktika-M No. 3 remote-sensing satellite. (As of 2018)


2023: Russia to launch Ionosfera-M No. 1, Ionosfera-M No. 2 scientific satellites.


2023: Russia to launch the Resurs-PM No. 3 remote-sensing satellite.


2023: A Zenit-3SLBF/Fregat-SB to launch the Elektro-M (No. 1, No. 1-1) weather-forecasting satellite into geostationary orbit from Baikonur. (In 2008, the launch was promised in 2014. (299) and 2009, the mission slipped to 2015 (388). By 2012, the launch was delayed to 2018. In 2015, the mission was postponed from April 2021.)


2023: A Soyuz-2-1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage to launch a Meteor-MP No. 1 satellite from Site 1S in Vostochny. (As of middle of 2015. The launch was previously expected in 2021.)


2023: Russia to launch the Ekspress-PF2 communications satellite.


2023: Russia to launch the Ekspress-PF3 communications satellite.


2023: A Soyuz-2.1b rocket to launch Luna-Resurs spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. As of beginning of 2011, an Indian GSLV Mk-II rocket was to launch a Chandrayaan-2/Luna-Resurs lunar mission in 2017, including a Russian-built lander, which would carry a rover built in India. (489) In 2009, the mission was promised in 2012. In 2007, the mission was expected in 2011, but by 2010, it slipped to September 2013. The Phobos-Grunt fiasco pushed the mission to 2016-2017. Also, in 2011, the mission was split into an orbiter to be launched on an Indian rocket and a Luna-Resurs lander to fly on a Soyuz-2 rocket. By 2014, the mission was postponed until 2023.


2023: 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.)


 

Uncertain and cancelled missions

Postponed from June 30, 2022: A Soyuz-5 rocket to fly its inaugural mission from Site 45 in Baikonur. (As of middle of 2018)

2024: Russia to launch the Arktika-M2.6 remote-sensing satellite. (As of 2018)

2024: Russia to launch the Resurs-PM No. 4 remote-sensing satellite.

2024: Russia to launch the Ekspress-AMU9 communications satellite.

2024: Russia to launch the Ekspress-MD5 communications satellite.

2024: A Soyuz rocket to launch Europe's Plato observatory from Kourou on a mission to discover thousands of exoplanets (planetary bodies beyond the Solar System). (A mission slated for approval as of beginning of 2014).

2024: A Soyuz-2-1b rocket to launch the OKA-T-2 free-flying module from Pad 1 in Vostochny to dock with Russia's next-generation space station.

2024: Russia's next-generation manned spacecraft, PTK NP, to fly its first manned mission from Vostochny Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. (As of mid-2014. As of beginning of 2013, the mission was promised around 2020.)

First half of 2024: An Angara-5 rocket with a KVTK space tug to launch the Phobos Sample Return Mission from Vostochny to the surface of Mars.

 

 

For missions in 2025 click here

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This page is compiled by Anatoly Zak

Last update: September 15, 2023

All rights reserved

 

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Resurs-PM

Resurs-PM satellite as depicted in 2017. Credit: RKTs Progress


rbka

RBKA satellite. Credit: Michael Jerdev


Meteor-MP

A Meteor-MP remote-sensing satellite. Credit: VNIIEM


Bion-M

Scale model of the Bion-M satellite. Copyright © 2010 Anatoly Zak


Vozvrat-MKA

As of 2014, a pair of Vozvrat-MKA capsules were scheduled to fly in 2021 and 2025. Copyright © 2013 Anatoly Zak