BAIKONUR COSMODROME – The Russian space agency had its first launch since last month when two astronauts were quickly shuttled away from the Soyuz rocket when it suffered a mechanical failure.
On Friday, all eyes were on Roscosmos as it launched 3 tons of supplies from Kazakhstan to the space station on the same type of Soyuz-FG rocket that failed, more than a month ago.
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At 1:14 p.m. ET, 12:14 a.m. local time, the Soyuz ignited from Baikonur Cosmodrome with the Progress 71 cargo capsule, launching into the night. All steps throughout the launch process went smoothly and the space capsule was deployed with its antenna and solar panels opened as planned.
The cargo capsule is set to dock at the station at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Northrop Grumman is launching another supply run to the space station on Saturday at 4:01 a.m. from NASA's Flight Facility in Virginia.
The successful launch and delivery will pave the way for the next crew launch in December: Russian Oleg Kononenko, American Anne McClain and Canadian David Saint-Jacques will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the ISS.
A few minutes into launch on Oct. 11, with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin on board, the Soyuz-FG rocket failed triggering an automatic abort and sending the Soyuz spacecraft safely back to Earth with both astronauts inside.
Investigators found that the root of the failure was a damaged sensor on the rocket which didn’t properly signal the separation of the first and second stages, according to a statement from Roscosmos.
The faulty sensor “was damaged during the assembling of the strap-on boosters with the core stage (the Packet) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome,” according to Oleg Skorobogatov, the Central Research Institute of Machine Building deputy director general and head of the investigation committee.
Russia's Progress cargo craft blasted off on its way to the station today at 1:14pm ET. It will arrive at the orbital lab Sunday with about 6,000 pounds supplies and goodies for the crew. https://t.co/dtUGpS6U3G pic.twitter.com/CxuByrSI7J
— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) November 16, 2018
To ensure there were no assembly issues with any of the other already built Soyuz rockets, Roscosmos deconstructed and reassembled the Soyuz rockets and their boosters packs.
Two months is significantly less downtime for human spaceflight than NASA officials originally estimated after the failure. Any longer than three months would have meant the current crew would have to return to Earth and the ISS would be vacant for the first time in more than 16 years.
NASA and its international partners pay Russia to carry its astronauts to and from the Space Station.