After the Baikonur accident, Russia lost the ability to launch people into space

After the launch of the Soyuz spacecraft, the only launch pad for manned missions was damaged at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This was reported by Medusa with reference to experts, The Insider and others.

On the morning of November 27, a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur's launch pad 31, carrying a crew of three people: two Russians and an American, Christopher Williams.

Launching the mission broadcast NASA.

During the post-flight inspection, it turned out that the gas jet of the rocket's first stage engine had torn off a fragment of the launch complex No. 6 at pad 31.

According to some reports, the site repairs could take up to two years.

As the publication notes N+1currently, Site 31 is the only one in Russia for manned launches of Soyuz. Its damage could lead to a disruption of the launch schedule for both cargo and manned spacecraft.

Vitaly Yegorov, a space exploration promoter, believes that Russia has actually lost the ability to launch people into space, which has not happened since 1961. And now it is necessary to either repair this 31st launch table or modernize the first Gagarin launch, which was given to a museum in Kazakhstan.

Roscosmos confirmed that a post-launch inspection revealed damage to a number of elements of the launch table.

"Damage can occur after launch, so such an inspection is mandatory in global practice. We are currently assessing the condition of the launch complex. We have all the necessary backup elements for recovery, and the damage will be repaired in the near future," they said.

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