Latest R-7 Stories

A Russian Soyuz booster rocket that is set to carry a three-person crew to the International Space Station (ISS) was moved Sunday to a launch pad in preparation for the launch. The rocket will carry US astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker, as well as Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.  The crew will board the ISS laboratory for about six months. The Soyuz carrier rocket started to slowly rollout to the site in southern Kazakhstan at 7.a.m. local time on Sunday.  In...

Interfax news agency reported on Friday that the first launch of a Russian space rocket from a site has been delayed.A modified Soyuz cargo ship has been expected to lift off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana by the end of this year.  Its closeness to the equator means that not as much fuel is needed to reach a geostationary orbit, as apposed to the amount needed to launch from Russia's Baikonur site in Kazakhstan. The new cargo ship can carry up to 3 tons of payload into orbit,...

A Russian rocket will next year for the first time blast off from a European launch pad in South America, officials said Saturday, as the first rockets headed for the site on board a ship.Two Russian Soyuz rockets bound for the French seas left late Saturday. They will arrive 15 days later ahead of the first planned launches next year of Soyuz rockets from France's launch site in French Guiana.Arianespace Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive of French aerospace, told AFP, "We are in line...

The founder of Cirque du Soleil along with two other astronauts prepared for launch to the International Space Station on Monday aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.Russian space agency officials readied the launch vehicle at the Gagarin's Start launch pad, where the Yuri Gagarin set off to become the first man in orbital space in 1961.Guy Laliberte, 50, spent about $35 million to reserve his spot on the Soyuz. He will spend 12 days aboard the orbiting outpost, and is expected to be the last space...

MONTREAL, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure Entertainment Group Inc, a bespoke event management and luxury concierge company, recently announced a partnership with the only company that provides human space mission to the world marketplace: Space Adventures Ltd.This partnership allows Pure Entertainment Group to be one of the first and only companies in Canada to offer bespoke space travel experiences to its very demanding clientele, such as space-related adventure tours, sub-orbital and orbital...

Activity is continuing at the Guiana Space Centre (Centre Spatial Guyanais "“ CSG), Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, as the Soyuz launch site takes shape. Soyuz is a medium-class launcher and its performance will perfectly complement that of the other ESA launchers, Ariane and Vega. On the spaceport's new launch pad, the infrastructure that maintains Soyuz in its erected position prior to launch is being completed. In the nearby launcher assembly and testing building...

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Monday that initial launches for the Russian-made Soyuz rocket and a new light rocket called Vega will be delayed until 2010.The rockets were originally set to launch later this year.The Russian Soyuz is being added to ESA's launch pad at Kourou, French Guiana, to provide operational flexibility and manage mid-level payloads as the Ariane 5 rocket handles heavier payloads.The launch was postponed as a result of delays in a Russian-built mobile...

NASA has signed a $306 million modification to the current International Space Station contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency for crew transportation and related services in 2012 and 2013.The firm-fixed price modification covers comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, crew rescue, and landing of a long-duration mission for six individual station crew members.Space station crew members will launch on four Soyuz vehicles: two in spring...

A Soyuz-2 rocket Friday carried a military communication satellite into orbit from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia, launch officials said.A steady communication link has been established with the spacecraft. All on-board systems are performing normally, Col. Alexei Zolotukhin said.The Meridian 2 satellite primarily will be used for Russian military communications, though it also will be of commercial use for civilian services, such as navigation, RIA Novosti reported.The Soyuz-2...

Construction has been completed on the first Russian Soyuz rockets scheduled to launch from South America, Russian Soyuz maker reported Thursday."The first two rockets are ready. They have got through all the tests and have been placed in the containers in which they will be delivered," a report by ITAR-TASS quoted Sergei Tyulevin, the deputy head of TsSKB-Progress, as saying. The updated Soyuz-ST rockets will be delivered in September, and will launch December 28 from French...