Russia&CIS

Russian cosmonauts discovered small cracks in the ISS’ Zarya module, according to Reuters. The fissures are superficial but may spread over time. At this point, it is unclear whether the cracks are causing any air leaks from the orbiting lab. Zarya was launched in November 1998. It is part of the ISS’ Russian segment and was the first piece of the station to reach orbit.

Russia postponed its first mission to the Moon in 45 years due to problems during tests of the Luna-25 spacecraft, Roscosmos announced. The mission was originally scheduled for 1st October from the Vostochny Cosmodrome had now been moved to May 2022. The Luna-25 mission aimed at the Moon's south pole will probe ice deposits.

Sir Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Emily Calandrelli, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Kellie Geraldi, Chris Hadfield, Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut), Tanya Harrison, Bill Nye. How are these names connected besides that these people to be the space industry’s top professionals?

British operator OneWeb’s 34 new satellites launched into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket operated by Arianespace. The take-off was at 22.13 GMT Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Roscosmos space agency and Arianespace said. It was the fifth launch of OneWeb satellites this year, with the last one being in July.

The leaders of BRICS Space Agencies have signed an agreement to share remote sensing satellite data the Indian Space Research Organisation reports. The heads of space agencies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa signed the agreement via video meeting.

This Space Café Russia will be hosted by Elina Morozova, Executive Director of the Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications and a friend of SpaceWatch.Global , in conversation with Igor Porokhin, a Russian attorney-at-law and partner of legal firm InSpace Consulting known for having provided legal support for contracts for flights to the International Space Station

An experiment to grow plants in a space greenhouse on an industrial scale will be conducted in Russia’s Nauka (Science) research module aboard the ISS. Experiment Vitacycle-T will involve growing Napa cabbage, grain, leguminous crops, and dwarf tomato varieties, TASS reports. Planting is planned in strips with seeds at certain intervals.

Russia plans to create a manned space complex in LEO, Roscosmos reported. The news comes after learning that the Russian segment of the ISS is to be retired after 2024 due to ageing. This, in turn opens up the way for national space infrastructures to take over the exploration of outer space.

A software failure caused a thruster misfiring and tilted the International Space Station (ISS) during the docking of the Russian science module Nauka, space agencies and media reports said on Friday. Nauka inadvertently started to fire its thrusters after its successful docking to the ISS and tilted the station, causing a loss of attitude control for around 45 minutes, the reports said.

The European Robotic Arm (ERA) is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) after its launch from Baikonur, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The 11-m-long robot is travelling folded and attached to what will be its home base – the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also called ‘Nauka’, ESA said.