Progress M-59/24 P (24th Progress to the ISS) launched successfully on 18 January at 02:12:15 UTC. There are some nice snowy scenes (well, they look nice during a sweltering Australian summer) at the Energiya site of the launcher being rolled out to the launchpad on the 16th. I wish Energiya would post high-resolution versions of their photos! There are some also posted at the NASA Human Spaceflight Gallery: JSC2007-E-03078, 03079, 03080, 03801, 03802, 03803, 03804.
There was a portrait of Sergei Korolyov on the side of the Soyuz rocket as part of his 100th birthday celebrations (what would have been his 100th birthday). If he were still alive today, I wonder what he would think of the current Russian space program? Probably not much! I think he would be very annoyed at the rather dismal state it is in (though it is somewhat better than it was ten years ago). It is a pity he died so prematurely (during an operation).
(And “Darth Vader” mentioned it too ;-). More Sergei articles (his name is pronouced Korolyov, in Russian Королёв (like Sergei Krikalyov’s surname) (Korolyov means “king”, appropriately enough!):
- “Celebrating Korolyov”, The Space Review.
- “Ambitious Goal Of Sergei Korolev” and “Russia Celebrates 100th Birthday Of Space Pioneer”, Space Daily.
Energiya president Nikolai Sevast’yanov was reprimanded by Roskosmos (По поводу «приступов лунатизма», “On the matter of ‘Lunar assaults’ ”) for his somewhat overenthusiastic proposals in the past year about going to the Moon!
Roskosmos has regretfully corrected the rhetoric, repeated by a number of mass-media, by the president, the general designer of Energiya N.N. Sevast’yanov, regarding the as yet-unformed program of Russia on flights on the Moon.
Roskosmos, together with other interested departments and organizations, works above a definition of the strategy of development of domestic astronautics, including in the piloted area. However, it is premature to speak about the existence of national decisions on the development of the Moon and other planets.
The desire of the parent organization Energiya to accept the most active participation in realization of such decisions will be necessarily accepted in attention as soon as decisions on a lunar theme are formulated.
More at Space Daily: “Russian Space Agency Irked By Moon Program Debate”. Perhaps though Roskosmos should be more ambitious – it would interest people more than the current rather limited program.
Mentioned in Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №602 is this new site, Федерации космонавтики России (Russian Cosmonautics Federation). But on following the link – yikes! The site design looks like something from ten years ago, complete with a garish animated starry background (reproduced below, in case they [hopefully!] change the design). The designer should pay a visit to Web Pages that Suck and take note!
Also from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №602:
19/01/2007/00:08 RKK Energiya will develop a variant of the Soyuz spaceship for returning cargo from orbit
The Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya is preparing for Roskosmos a proposal for the creation of a variant of the Soyuz spacecraft, the РКК Energiya president, Nikolay Sevast’yanov, told journalists on Thursday. “Considering, that from 2010 the American shuttles will stop flying to the ISS, we are preparing the project “Reusable/revolving cargo Soyuz” (грузовозвращаемого «Союза»), explained N. Sevast’yanov.
As he said, the need for an additional vehicle for returning cargoes from an orbit will increase, as by 2010 the Station will be completed and will begin functioning at a high capacity, and on it the quantity of experiments will increase. It will be necessary to return results of experiments to Earth.
According to N. Sevast’yanov, the reusable cargo variant of Soyuz will differ in that the cosmonauts’ seats and other equipment will be removed. These Soyuz will then be able to return to the Earth in an automatic mode with up to 500 kg of various cargoes, reports Interfax.
