Russian Progress MS-31 Cargo Spacecraft: Launch Prep | International Space Station
Roscosmos Soyuz 2.1a rocket and Progress MS-31 cargo spacecraft (Russian) on Pad 31 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
Emblem of the Soyuz-Apollo Flight 50th Anniversary
Launch of a Roscosmos Progress MS-31 cargo spacecraft on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket (Russian) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is scheduled for July 3, 2025. The Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle with the Progress MS-31 spacecraft atop has been rolled out and made vertical on Pad 31. It will carry 2625 kg of cargo to the International Space Station, including equipment for scientific experiments, food, clothing, 950 kg of fuel, 420 kg of drinking water and 50 kg of nitrogen.
Meanwhile, Flight Engineers and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy of Russia, trained on a computer for the arrival and docking of the Progress 92 cargo spacecraft to the Poisk module scheduled for July 5. The duo also finished loading the Progress 90 cargo craft with trash and discarded gear and closed the spacecraft’s hatch before its undocking from Poisk on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked withap a Soviet Soyuz capsule. The project, and its "handshake" in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers amid the Cold War.
The Americans officially called the mission the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) while the Soviets called it Experimental flight "Soyuz"–"Apollo" (Russian: Экспериментальный полёт «Союз»–«Аполлон», romanized: Eksperimentalniy polyot "Soyuz"–"Apollon") and Soyuz 19. The unnumbered American spacecraft was left over from canceled Apollo missions and was the last Apollo module to fly.
The mission consisted of three American astronauts (Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, and Deke Slayton) and two Soviet cosmonauts (Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov) that performed joint and separate scientific experiments, including an arranged eclipse of the Sun by the Apollo module to allow instruments on the Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona. The pre-flight work provided useful experience for later joint American–Russian space flights, such as the Shuttle–Mir program and the International Space Station.
Apollo–Soyuz was the last crewed United States spaceflight for nearly six years until the first launch of the Space Shuttle on April 12, 1981, and the last crewed United States spaceflight in a space capsule until Crew Dragon Demo-2 on May 30, 2020.
Image Credit: Roscosmos/Katya Pavlushchenko
Text Credit: Katya Pavlushchenko/Wikipedia
Release Dates: June 30-July 1, 2025
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