MOSCOW, March 22 (Reuters) - ⁠Russia launched a Soyuz rocket from a ⁠repaired launch pad at its Baikonur cosmodrome ‌in Kazakhstan on Sunday, restoring its capability to fly to the International Space Station for the first time since the ​launch pad was damaged last ⁠year. At 1200 GMT, a ⁠Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-33 cargo spacecraft ⁠lifted off ‌and was placed into orbit, Russia's space agency said. The spacecraft is ⁠expected to dock with the International Space ​Station on ‌March 24. The launch pad had been out of ⁠commission since ​it was badly damaged in November when a Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one ⁠NASA astronaut on board blasted ​off. While Russia has other cosmodromes on its own territory ​and Baikonur has other launch ⁠sites, the damaged launch pad was the only ​one able to handle the ‌Soyuz rocket that carries crew ​capsules and Progress cargo vehicles to the ISS.

Source: The Star March 22, 2026 14:34 UTC