Russia’s Space Program Grounded By Soyuz Launch Pad Accident At Baikonur Cosmodrome

Russia’s Space Program Hit by Soyuz Launch Pad Accident. A severe accident at Baikonur Cosmodrome has dealt a significant blow to Russia’s space ambitions. On November 27th, shortly after the Soyuz-MS28 mission launched at 09:27:57 UTC, drone footage revealed that the 8U216 mobile maintenance cabin had collapsed in the flame trench.

The launch itself was successful, with cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, and NASA astronaut Christopher Williams safely arriving at the International Space Station (ISS) a few hours later. However, the collapse of the maintenance cabin has rendered Russia’s primary launch site for ISS missions inoperable.

While alternative launch facilities exist, including Plesetsk Cosmodrome and Vostochny Cosmodrome, they are either incapable of reaching the ISS or unable to fulfill crew-launch capabilities. As a result, Russia is currently unable to launch crews or payloads to the ISS using Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, acknowledged the accident in a statement, emphasizing the success of the mission while noting that damage to several launch pad components had been identified.