JSC "Satellite System "Gonets" (part of the State Corporation "Roscosmos") successfully completed the assigned tasks at the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the "S. P. Korolev" manned spacecraft (Soyuz MS-21).
The successful launch of the carrier rocket was carried out from the Baikonur cosmodrome on March 18, 2022 at 18:55 Moscow time. At 22:12 Moscow time. "S. P. Korolev" was the first spacecraft docking to the new Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS).
The channels of the Multifunctional Space Relay System (MSRS) "Loutch" (operator JSC "Gonets Satellite System") were used in ensuring the launch. The launch took place in the presence of Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos State Corporation, and Pavel Cherenkov, General Director of Gonets Satellite System JSC.
After the Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft left the radio visibility zone of ground communications, the Loutch relay system transmitted telemetry information to the Flight Control Center (FCC) of the ISS and command information on spacecraft's board.
Currently, during the crew's stay on the ISS, the Loutch system has been performing a 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 spacecrafts of the system are involved in the organization of the broadband channel: "Loutch-5A", "Loutch-5B", "Loutch-5B", onboard equipment installed on the ISS RS, and means of a ground-based relay support complex.
The use of the Russian Loutch relay system makes it possible to organize the exchange of information between the ISS RS and the FCC without involving the American TDRSS relay system.
For the first time in history, all three crew members of the "Soyuz" spacecraft are graduates of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, so Roscosmos State Corporation decided to call this launch the "Bauman Launch".
"S. P. Korolev" manned spacecraft (Soyuz MS-21), Photo: Roscosmos
The crew of the "S. P. Korolev" spacecraft at the International Space Station (Photo: Roscosmos)
