The Multifunctional Space Relay System (MSRS) Loutch (operator and operating organization – JSC Gonets Satellite System, part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) successfully completed the tasks of targeted application during the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-manned transport vehicle (TPK)25" No. 756.
On March 23, 2024, at 15:36 Moscow time, a successful launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-25 manned transport vehicle took place from site 31 of the Baikonur cosmodrome in order to deliver a crew consisting of the commander of the Hero of Russia spacecraft, cosmonaut of Roscosmos Oleg Novitsky to the International Space Station (ISS), the first female cosmonaut from the Republic of Belarus, Marina Vasilevskaya, as well as NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson. An image dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was applied to the head fairing of the rocket.
On March 25, at 18:02 Moscow time, the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft docked automatically to the Berth node module of the Russian segment of the ISS. The rendezvous and docking of the manned spacecraft was supervised by Yuri Borisov, Director General of the Roscosmos State Corporation.
During the launch of the launch vehicle, the relay channels of the MSRS "Loutch " were used. After the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft left the radio visibility zone of ground communications, the Loutch system transmitted telemetry data from the ship to the Mission Control Center (MCC) of the ISS RS, and also transmitted control commands on board.
Currently, the Loutch system continues to perform the complex task of providing the crew of the ISS RS with a broadband information transmission channel with the possibility of voice and video communication, as well as data transmission in accordance with the established work program. All 3 spacecraft of the system are involved in the organization of the channel: Loutch -5A, Loutch -5B, Loutch -5V, equipment installed on the ISS RS, and means of a ground-based relay support complex.
Oleg Novitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya will spend 14 days on the ISS and return home to Soyuz MS-24 in early April together with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara. Tracey Dyson will spend 184 days in orbit and land on September 23 on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft together with Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. These flights are carried out within the framework of the agreement on cross-flights of Russian cosmonauts on American Crew Dragon ships and American astronauts on Russian Soyuz MS ships, signed in July 2022 between Roscosmos and NASA.
