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Soyuz-2 Reaches Vostochny for Russia’s Next Launch
Roscosmos has delivered a Soyuz-2 rocket and payload fairing to Vostochny, after flying in a Fregat upper stage on July 10.
Image: iXBT
Roscosmos has moved another step closer to its next launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, with a rail shipment carrying Soyuz-2 rocket stages and the payload fairing now delivered to the site.
The newly arrived hardware will be prepared for assembly inside the integration and test complex. After checks are completed, the launcher will be mated with the rocket’s other components ahead of the upcoming mission.
Preparations began earlier this month. On July 10, a Fregat upper stage was delivered to Vostochny aboard an An-124-100 transport aircraft.
Fregat is used with medium-class rockets including Soyuz-2 and is designed to place one or more spacecraft into different orbits. With its own propulsion system, the upper stage can restart its engines multiple times during a single flight, enabling more complex multi-satellite missions as well as deliveries not only to Earth orbit but also onto interplanetary trajectories.
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Roscosmos has not yet disclosed the launch date or the mission’s payload.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via iXBT
