Source: Reuters
“Russia launched a Soyuz rocket from a repaired launch pad at its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday, restoring its capability to fly to the International Space Station for the first time since the launch pad was damaged last year. At 1200 GMT, a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft lifted off and was placed into orbit, Russia’s space agency said. The spacecraft is expected to dock with the International Space Station on March 24. The launch pad had been out of commission since it was badly damaged in November when a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board blasted off. No one was hurt and the crew safely reached the space station, but the incident deprived Russia of its sole means of sending crew or cargo back to the ISS for months.” (03/22/26)