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Developed in the mid-1950s, the V-750 Dvina was the first effective Soviet surface-to-air missile. The Soviets used it to shoot down Gary Powers' U-2 over the USSR in 1960 and Maj. Rudolph Anderson's U-2 over Cuba in 1962. The missile was better known by the NATO designation SA-2 Guideline. Air Force and Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 rocket will launch a classified spy satellite cargo for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Delayed from December 2018, 2nd Quarter 2019.
For the first time since 2002, humans departed for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan on a rocket other than the veteran Soyuz-FG, which was retired last year. Now, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket took up crew launch duties for the Russian element of crew support for the Station.The Soyuz MS-16 three-person crew lifted off from Site No. 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 9 April 2020 at 08:05:06 UTC (04:05:06 EDT) to begin a four orbit, six hour rendezvous with the Station that resulted in the vehicle docking with the ISS at 14:15 UTC (10:15 EDT).Switching Rockets:The switch of launch vehicles comes as Russia cuts its human launch cadence from four flights to just two a year.that Roscosmos would cut their crew launches per year in half while the U.S.
The business end of the Soyuz 2.1a rocket is rotated slowly into its launch mount at Site No. 31/6 as Soyuz MS-16 launch preparations continue.
(Credit: Roscosmos)But as technology improved and other rockets became more capable, the Soyuz-U began to show its age. Its computer systems were analog, severely restricting the upgrades possible on the rocket.Because of the analog Flight Control System, the rocket was incapable of rolling onto the correct azimuth after lifting off from its launch pads. Therefore, the launch pads themselves had to literally be turned and angled in the correct direction so the rocket could simply pitch over and be on the correct course for its intended orbit. Location on the Station where Soyuz MS-16 will dock. (Credit: NASA)Since that first crew flight, it was the only Russian rocket to launch humans to the International Space Station for 17 years, and after the retirement of the U.S. Ivanishin undergoing pre-flight testing.
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Ivan Vagner’s official cosmonaut portrait. (Credit: Roscosmos)Vagner was then assigned as part of the backup crew to flight engineer Andrei Babkin for Soyuz MS-16.
Loading map.National HistoryFurther National InformationAviationText to be added on the development of aviation in USSR.MarkingsCivil Aircraft RegistrationsUSSR civil aircraft used the registration sequence CCCP-xxxx, with the registration in numbers, 1929-1992. Some registrations had a letter between the prefix and the registration eg: CCCP-L5400. The alternative prefixes SSSR- and USSR- were also used for this sequence. A separate register sequence U-xxxx, (alternatively shown as URSS-xxxx), also with numerical registrations, was used 1929-1944.
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