The capsule carrying robots launches its flight test for the space station – Spaceflight Now

A Russian robot rather than a cosmonaut instead of the captain, a Russian Soyuz plane came into orbit from Kazakhstan on Wednesday night (US time) as it headed for the International Space Station to perform a flight of critical test before crews start piloting an improved Soyuz reminder next year.

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket fired into the clear sky at Site 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1138: 32. EDT Wednesday (03H38: 32 GMT, local time Thursday), just in time to embark on a trajectory to intercept the space station.

The kerosene launcher sank to the east-northeast of Baikonur, abandoning its four first-stage boosters and launching the escape system less than two minutes after take-off. An aerodynamic shroud was later released from the Soyuz spacecraft, and the main Soyuz stage died out and fell to the ground almost five minutes after the start of the mission.

Embedded video footage showed the rocket events unfolding as expected and a third RD-0110 engine powered the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft into orbit. The capsule deployed from the third leg almost nine minutes into the flight, and the solar panels and navigation antennas of the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft deployed a few moments later, just as during a mission carrying a crew to the space station.

But the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft was launched unmanned – the first Soyuz crew boat to fly without cosmonauts in 33 years – to allow Russian engineers to conduct a fully automated test flight. The experimental mission was designed to test the compatibility of the Soyuz space shuttle with the upgraded Soyuz-2.1a booster, a modernized variant of the venerable family of Russian rockets that is expected to begin launching crews next March.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket variant has been launched a dozen times since 2004, including ten flights with freighter cargo freighters for replenishment missions to the space station.

But one of the supply ships Progress launched on a Soyuz-2.1a booster in April 2015 took an uncontrolled turn after being separated from the third floor of Soyuz. Russian engineers attributed this failure to a botched deployment of the Progress spacecraft from the third floor of Soyuz.

The Progress accident, in 2015, prompted the Russian authorities to use the first Soyuz capsule on board a Soyuz 2.1a rocket without anyone on board.

The Soyuz-FG variant currently used to send Soyuz crews to the space station is expected to retire later this year.

Another Soyuz-FG rocket remains in the inventory of Russia. Its launch, on September 25, should allow the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft to launch into orbit with Commander Oleg Skripochka, NASA co-pilot Jessica Meir and flight engineer Hazzaa Ali Almansoori. the first person from the UAE to fly in space.

The launch of the Soyuz MS-15 Space Shuttle on September 25th is the last scheduled mission to take off from Site 1 at Baikonur, the same facility used during the launch of Yuri Gagarin during the first orbital flight of mankind in April 1961.

Starting next March, Soyuz crews will launch Soyuz-2.1a boosters from Site 31 in Baikonur, equipped for the new Soyuz-2 family.

Soyuz-2.1a upgrades include a modernized digital flight control system, which replaces the analogue guidance system of older Soyuz models, as well as improvements to engine injection systems.

The digital control system allows the Soyuz-2.1a rocket to execute a roll program a few seconds after takeoff to reach the correct azimuth to align its flight path with the space station's orbit. The Soyuz-FG rocket currently in use for launching Soyuz crews must be rotated in the correct orientation on the launch pad before take-off.

After his successful trip into space, the Soyuz MS-14 vehicle will increase its altitude and match its orbit with the space station, preparing for a docking with the Poisk module at 0530 GMT Saturday.

Instead of a crew, the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft carries a cargo of 1,450 pounds (657 kg) to the space station, including the Russian robot Skybot F-850, a humanoid replacing a cosmonaut commander.

The Skybot F-850 was sitting in the central seat of the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft at launch, holding a Russian flag in one hand. Shortly after reaching the orbit, a video stream in the cabin showed the robot turning its head from one side to the other.

The Skybot F-850 will not handle any flight control during the Soyuz mission, but sensors on the robot's body will measure key parameters – such as acceleration, vibration, temperature, and humidity – during the flight, including launching, berthing and landing.

Alexander Bloshenko, scientific advisor in Roscosmos, said the Skybot F-850 robot will conduct experiments at the space station prepared by Russian engineers.

Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov will work with the Skybot F-850 after arriving at the station. Skvortsov will be able to communicate with the robot, according to Roscosmos.

The cosmonauts will move the Skybot F-850 into the space station for five days of experimentation and testing, before bringing the robot back into the Soyuz capsule for return to Earth, according to Rob Navias, spokesman for NASA.

Measuring nearly 1.8 meters tall and weighing about 160 kilos, the Skybot F-850 will reproduce Skvortsov's movements during a series of tests in orbit. If the tests are successful, Russia could launch improved robots that can operate outside the space station, thus helping crews on space marches, or allowing cosmonauts to completely avoid exits in the space station. 39, space, said Bloshenko.

The Skybot F-850 robot is an evolution of the Russian robot series FEDOR, which engineers initially developed for rescue operations. Ground test videos showed the FEDOR robot pulling, lifting weights and driving a car.

The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects, with a similar role to that of DARPA in the US government, led the development of the FEDOR robot. FEDOR is the abbreviation of Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research.

Skybot F-850 is not the first robot to get to the space station.

NASA's Robonaut 2 experimental robot was launched on the station in 2011, but the robot came back to Earth last year and needed repairs. Robonaut 2 could return to the space station later this year.

Roscosmos has created a Twitter account for the Russian robot ready to go to the station, with tweets composed from the point of view of Skybot F-850.

In a tweet, it was written that the conditions inside the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft were difficult. The robot can "barely get into the cargo in the cabin" of the spacecraft, the tweet said.

The Soyuz MS-14 satellite will remain at the space station for more than 13 days. The spacecraft – with Skybot F-850 – will be removed from the Poisk module at 14:13. HAE (18:13 GMT) on 6 September at 17:35 for a parachute assisted landing in south-central Kazakhstan. EDT (21:35 GMT).

Mr Navias said that the Soyuz MS-14 satellite will also test new systems during the re-entry and landing, which could pave the way for Russia's development of a vehicle for payload return based on the Soyuz model.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is currently the only vehicle capable of delivering significant cargo back to Earth from the space station. Crews have little room to bring their equipment home or experiment with specimens inside the Soyuz downhill module.

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