According to experts, this is an incident that “has never occurred in the history of Russian aerospace.”
On the evening of March 21, MK reported that the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft from Russia was aborted “just 4-5 seconds before launch.”
Space historian Alexander Zheleznyakov stated that the necessity to cancel the crewed spacecraft launch just before ignition is an incident that “has never occurred in the history of Russian aerospace.”
“In the history of Russian aerospace, there has never been a case of aborting a crewed spacecraft launch right before the ‘start’ command was given. There have been other incidents, but nothing like this has ever happened with a crewed vehicle,” Zheleznyakov said.
Simulation of a Russian rocket launch. (Photo: Bing Chat).
Previously, the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket was scheduled for 16:21 on March 21, Moscow time, to place the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft into orbit.
The crew of the spacecraft included Oleg Novitskiy (Russian), Marina Vaselevskaya (Belarusian), and Tracy Dyson (American). If the mission had been successful, Vaselevskaya would have become the first Belarusian woman in history to travel to space.
Novitskiy and Vaselevskaya were set to spend 12 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and return to Earth on April 2 aboard the Soyuz MS-24 (the spacecraft currently docked with the ISS) alongside American astronaut Loral O’Hara, who has been on the ISS since September 15, 2023. Pilot Dyson was expected to return later.
Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, indicated that “an unusual situation occurred in the final stages of the launch preparation process (for the Soyuz-2.1a rocket).”
“In the final stages of the preparation before launch, an unusual situation occurred. The entire process was interrupted. The cause has been identified as a drop in voltage from the chemical power source,” Borisov told reporters.
The launch has been rescheduled to March 25 at 15:36 Moscow time.
Lenta reported expert opinions indicating that the emergency cancellation of the Soyuz-2.1a launch has caused several issues, such as the need to vent fuel and oxygen. This incident is unlikely to be resolved within the next 24 hours.
