Russia's Only Crew Launch Pad Damaged: ISS Missions in Jeopardy?
Russia faces a significant operational challenge following damage to its primary crew launch facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The incident occurred on November 27, 2025, immediately after the successful liftoff of Soyuz MS-28, which carried two Roscosmos cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut toward the International Space Station.
The mission itself proceeded nominally, with the crew arriving at the ISS on schedule. However, shortly after the Soyuz 2.1a rocket cleared the launch tower at Site 31/6, critical ground infrastructure failed catastrophically. The service platform—a vital structure located within the flame trench that supports pre-launch operations and crew access—collapsed into the trench below. Accompanying structural damage included partial destruction of the adjacent access building, with debris scattered across the facility.
Roscosmos acknowledged the damage in an official statement released the same day, confirming that inspectors detected “damage to a number of launch pad elements” during post-launch assessment procedures. Agency officials indicated that spare parts for restoration are available and that repair work would commence, though no specific timeline was provided.
The significance of this incident cannot be overstated for Russia’s human spaceflight program. Site 31/6 has served as the nation’s sole operational crew-rated launch facility since 2020, when the historically significant Site 1—colloquially known as “Gagarin’s Start”—was retired after nearly 60 years of continuous operation. This retirement eliminated Russia’s launch pad redundancy, leaving the country dependent on a single facility for all crewed Soyuz missions to the ISS.
Independent space analysts who have examined available imagery suggest the damage may be more extensive than Roscosmos’s initial assessment indicates. Some experts estimate that comprehensive repairs could require several months or potentially longer, contingent upon detailed structural evaluations and component availability. Speculation exists regarding potential workarounds, such as salvaging components from the decommissioned Site 1 or adapting infrastructure at Russia’s secondary spaceports—Plesetsk or Vostochny—though feasibility remains unconfirmed.
Russia has not announced modifications to its ISS launch schedule, which typically includes both crewed and uncrewed Soyuz missions departing from Site 31/6. Any prolonged outage could disrupt this operational tempo and complicate Russia’s commitments to international partnerships supporting the ISS program. The Soyuz vehicle has maintained an exceptional reliability record throughout its operational history, supporting over 400 launches from Baikonur since the early 1960s.
As Roscosmos continues evaluating pad conditions, the aerospace community awaits official updates on repair progress and timeline estimates. The incident underscores the critical importance of launch infrastructure redundancy in human spaceflight operations.
Source ID: SRCE-2025-1764608446318-1044