In 2020, 17 launches were carried out from four cosmodromes
MOSCOW, October 28. /tass/. Roscosmos has increased the number of launches of space rockets in 2021 compared to the previous year. This is evidenced by the calculations of TASS.
Last year, 17 launches were carried out from four cosmodromes - Baikonur, Plesetsk, Vostochny and Kuru. In 2021, this figure was exceeded after the Progress MS-18 cargo ship was sent into orbit.
Rocket launches from three spaceports are scheduled for November and December. In particular, on November 24, the launch of Soyuz-2.1b with the Progress M-UM spacecraft and the Berth node module for the International Space Station (ISS) is expected from the Baikonur cosmodrome. On December 1, the Soyuz-ST rocket from the Kourou cosmodrome will launch the spacecraft of the European navigation system Galileo into orbit.
On December 8, a manned launch is expected from the Baikonur cosmodrome - cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and two space tourists from Japan - billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano will go to the ISS for 12 days. Also in December, it is planned to launch the Angara-A5 launch vehicle from Plesetsk and Proton-M from Baikonur.
The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Progress MS-18 spacecraft launched at 03:00 Moscow Time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was covered with stickers with Khokhloma painting, which originated in the village of the same name, which is now part of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Also on the rocket were symbols in honor of the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod and the anniversary of Sberbank.