A Soyuz rocket launched Thursday to carry Roscosmos astronauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, as well as NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, to the International Space Station for an eight-month mission. The trio of astronauts reached the orbiting laboratory without incident.
However, on the ground, there was a serious problem during launch with the ground systems supporting processing of the vehicle prior to flight at Site 31 located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
In a brief statement released Thursday night on the social media site Telegram, the Russian Space Corporation, which operates the Soyuz, appeared to downplay the incident: “The launch pad was inspected, as is done every time a rocket is launched. Damage to several launch pad components was identified. Damage can occur after launch, so such inspections are mandatory worldwide. The condition of the launch pad is currently being assessed.”
‘Significant’ damage
However video imagery of the launch site after liftoff showed considerable damage, with a large service platform visible falling into a trench of fire beneath the launch table. According to one source, it is a platform located below the rocket, where personnel can access the vehicle before takeoff. It has a mass of about 20 metric tons and was apparently not secured before launch, and the vehicle’s thrust threw it into the flame abyss. “The pad suffered significant damage,” this source said.
Russia has a number of launch pads, both in Russia and in neighboring countries, including Kazakhstan, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union. However, Site 31 at Baikonur is the only pad in the country currently configured to handle the launch of the Soyuz rocket and two spacecraft critical to the space station, the cargo-only Progress vehicle and the Soyuz crew capsule.
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