Yesterday’s planned launch of Soyuz M-25 to the International Space Station was aborted with twenty seconds left in the countdown. NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus are fine, and were evacuated from the Soyuz capsule shortly afterwards.
According to state-owned Russian domestic news agency RIA Novosti, the launch was canceled due to a chemical power source voltage drawdown.
“All preparations for liftoff on March 21 went without a hitch until around L-20-second mark when the Emergency Engine Cutoff, AVD, command interrupted the final countdown. At that moment, the launch control had already issued the “Pusk” (launch) command (normally issued at L-19 seconds), however, one umbilical mast, VKM (from the Russian Verkhnyaya Kabel Machta), located above the surface of the pad, remained connected to the rocket, with its nominal retraction usually taking place at L-15 seconds in the countdown.”
Anatoly Zak, Russian Space Web
Russian space reporter Katya Pavlushchenko posted later on the X platform that this launch was “the first time ever when a crewed Soyuz launch was aborted a few minutes before launch. If it happened before, it was a day before launch during the standard checks.”
The launch has been postponed to March 23, at 7:36 AM EDT. Coverage of launch and docking activities will air live on NASA TV.
This story was written by FMN’s Charles Boyer for TalkofTitusville.com.
