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Luna-25 Has Crashed On The Moon
Luna-25 Has Crashed On The Moon

Keith’s note: Russia has lost the Luna-25 spacecraft which crashed on the Moon after a propulsion event went wrong. Roscosmos has confirmed the loss via Telegram (translation) “On August 19, in accordance with the flight program of the Luna-25 spacecraft, an impulse was provided for the formation of its pre-landing elliptical orbit. At about 14:57 Moscow time, communication with the Luna-25 spacecraft was interrupted. The measures taken on August 19 and 20 to search for the device and get into contact with it did not produce any results. According to the results of a preliminary analysis, due to the deviation of the actual parameters of the impulse from the calculated ones, the device switched to an off-design orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface. A specially formed interdepartmental commission will deal with the issues of clarifying the reasons for the loss of the Moon.” More. Update: I just did an interview on Deutsche Welle TV about this [Audio] [Video from DW]

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  • NASA Watch
  • August 20, 2023
Do Space Cooperation And Crimes Against Humanity Make A Good Mix?
Do Space Cooperation And Crimes Against Humanity Make A Good Mix?

Keith’s note: Whenever I am asked about the Russian issue on the ISS on TV I usually reply that while things are bad back on Earth, somehow we always managed to cooperate in space with the same people we cannot get along with on Earth – and that maybe how we live in space can provide us a lesson with how we should live on our home planet’s surface. Indeed I think the idea of ISS as a Nobel Peace Prize winner is a good one. In the past several years that in-space cooperation has been tested with regard to Russia. We’ve seen that relationship challenged by Nauka’s malfunction, leaky Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, accusations of American astronaut tampering, and repugnant rants from the (former) head of Russia’s space program (who is now an active participant in the invasion of Ukraine). Yet the ISS continues to operate surprisingly smoothly. Now the U.S. has openly declared that “The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.” Is Bill Nelson going to address this? Probably not. Oddly Bill Nelson has been quite vocal for months about China (not a NASA partner in space). Yet when it comes to a formal U.S. accusation of crimes against humanity in Ukraine by Russia (an actual NASA partner in space) Nelson is surprisingly quiet. Why is that?

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  • NASA Watch
  • February 19, 2023
Soyuz TV Updates By NASAWatch
Soyuz TV Updates By NASAWatch

Keith’s note: Yesterday NASA and Roscosmos announced their plan to send up an un-crewed Soyuz MS-23 on 20 February to the ISS to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22 currently in orbit. Two cosmonauts and one astronaut will then return home on Soyuz MS-23 while Soyuz MS-22 will eventually be sent back for a destructive re-entry. I was on France 24 [audio] at 3:15 pm EST and on Al Jazeera [audio] at 4:45 pm EST to talk about this today.

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 12, 2023
What Do You Do About A Leaky Soyuz?
What Do You Do About A Leaky Soyuz?

Заради аварията на Союз МС-22: съкращават екипажите на следващите американски и руски пилотирани кораби Keith’s note: An English auto-translation of this article says Soyuz MS-23 will be launched with one crew and then bring cosmonauts Prokopiev and Petelin (currently on ISS) home. The next SpaceX Dragon will be launched with 3 crew – cosmonaut would Fedyaev bumped to a later mission – to bring Rubio home. MS-22 would eventually be deorbited with no crew.

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 9, 2023
NASA Would Rather Not Talk About The Whole Russian Invasion Thing
NASA Would Rather Not Talk About The Whole Russian Invasion Thing

Keith’s note: At the post-launch press event today Roscosmos representative Sergei Krikalev was asked if his upbeat and professional tone was an attempt to dial back the behavior of the former head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin. He gave a one word response: “Yes”, smiled, and there was laughter in the room.

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 5, 2022
Americans Are Being Urged To Leave Russia
Americans Are Being Urged To Leave Russia

Keith’s note: The State Department is urging Americans to not travel to Russia and if they are in Russia, to leave as soon as possible. As we all know, NASA has a number of personnel and astronauts in various locations for training and support of the International Space Station program. Alerts below:

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 2, 2022
And Today's Russia Leaving ISS Date Is …
And Today's Russia Leaving ISS Date Is …

Russia to NASA: Sticking with space station until at least 2028, Reuters “Russian space officials told their U.S. counterparts that Moscow expects to remain on the International Space Station at least until their own outpost in orbit is built in 2028, NASA’s space operations chief told Reuters. The assurance on Tuesday from Russia came after the newly appointed head of its space agency, Roscosmos, surprised NASA earlier in the day […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 27, 2022
NASAWatch on BBC World Service: Russia's ISS Plans

Keith Cowing · NASAWatch on BBC World Service: Is Russia Leaving ISS? Keith’s note: I got this from NASA PAO at 5:11 pm EDT: “NASA is committed to the safe operation of the International Space Station through 2030, and is coordinating with our partners. NASA has not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners, though we are continuing to build future capabilities to assure our major presence […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 26, 2022