Russia’s 15th Launch in One Year: Progress MS-25 Soars to ISS From Baikonur

This first winter launch of 2023 is the fourth Russian cargo ship to reach the ISS this year and the 15th Russian rocket launched this year.

Russia's space agency has made its 15th rocket launch this year — carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-25 cargo spacecraft to the ISS was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch broadcasted by Roscosmos.

In less than nine minutes, the rocket placed the spacecraft in low Earth orbit. After separation from the third stage, the spacecraft will begin an autonomous flight to the ISS. Docking is scheduled for 11:15 GMT on December 3. The spacecraft is expected to remain in orbit for 179 days.

The new ship will carry more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, including fuel, drinking water, nitrogen, resource equipment, food and medical and hygiene supplies.

In addition, the Progress MS-25 carries equipment for conducting scientific experiments — in particular, an incubator for studying embryo development of quail eggs in zero-gravity conditions — and equipment for corrosion research to be installed in open space.

Before the launch, the rocket was decorated with images commemorating the 35th anniversary of the flight of the Buran reusable spacecraft — the soviet space shuttle — on November 15 1988, along with Decade of Science and Technology declared in Russia for 2022-2031, and the "Games of the Future" tournament to be held in Russia's Kazan in 2024.

In addition, the fairing of the Soyuz-2.1a was decorated with a poster commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth on August 29 1923 of Alexander Maximov, the first head of the Main Directorate for Space Units of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

As a senior military officer, Maximov supervised the development of the R-7 rocket at the OKB-1 design bureau (now RSC Energia), served as secretary of the state commission during the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, and took part in the launch of the first manned spacecraft crewed by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Under Maximov's leadership, the GLONASS system was tested and the Buran reusable spacecraft was developed.

The ISS is currently crewed by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub and Konstantin Borisov, NASA astronauts Loral O'Hara and Jasmine Moghbeli, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa.