Russia's Space Program Suffers a Big Setback

Tuckerfan · Nov 27, 2025

Not that it was in great shape to begin with.

Russia's only pad for crew launches suffers major damage

According to multiple Russian sources, on Nov. 27, 2025, the launch of the Soyuz MS-28 crew vehicle caused the mobile service platform at Site 31 to collapse into the flame duct below the pad. It essentially rendered the only facility for Russian orbital crew launches unusable. At the time, Roskosmos planned the launch of the Progress MS-33 cargo ship to the ISS on Dec. 21, 2025.

According to preliminary estimates, repairs of the service platform, known as 8U0216, could take up to two years and it was not immediately unclear whether some kind of makeshift arrangement would be possible to support multiple cargo and crew launches to the ISS in the interim. There was some possibility that duplicate hardware could be borrowed from the mothballed Site 1 in Baikonur or from similar facilities at other launch sites. There were four Soyuz pads in Plesetsk at one point, also one pad operated in Vostochny and one mothballed pad was in Kourou, French Guiana.

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Paladin · Nov 29, 2025

Tuckerfan · Dec 4, 2025

Russian Cosmonaut Kicked Off SpaceX Mission Over Alleged National Security Violation

Artemyev was taken off the mission after sources alleged that he violated U.S. national security regulations by photographing SpaceX documentation and then using his phone to export classified information, according to The Insider, an independent Russian investigative news outlet.
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Tuckerfan · Dec 4, 2025

Paladin · Dec 5, 2025

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Russia's Space Program Suffers a Big Setback

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Russia's Space Program Suffers a Big Setback

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