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Russian space agency to make video of resupply ship’s flight for first time

Roscosmos intends to integrate videos from onboard video cameras into most launch companies to popularize space exploration
Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket Donat Sorokin/TASS
Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket
© Donat Sorokin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. Video cameras have been installed for the first time aboard the Progress MS-09 resupply ship that will blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 10, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos told TASS on Monday.

The video cameras will record the flight of a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket that will lift off from the Baikonur spaceport to deliver the Progress cargo spacecraft to the orbital outpost, Roscosmos said.

"Onboard video control systems have been installed on the spacecraft for control of the space rocket’s flight," Roscosmos said.

Earlier, Roscosmos installed external video cameras on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft for the first time during its launch on June 6 to test the methods of visual control of the carrier rocket’s flight.

Roscosmos said at the time that an additional external camera would be mounted on manned and resupply spaceships, beginning with the Soyuz MS-09 and the Progress MS-09, for visual control (apart from the onboard video control system) during the separation of the third stage from the spacecraft.

In the future, Roscosmos intends to integrate videos from onboard video cameras into most launch companies to popularize space exploration.

Earlier, video cameras were installed on Soyuz carrier rockets during launches from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East. As Roscosmos Deputy CEO for Automated Space Systems Mikhail Khailov said, the space agency plans to install video cameras on carrier rockets during all subsequent launches from the Vostochny cosmodrome.

According to Khailov, a video camera shows the rocket’s flight in real time when it delivers a booster and payload into interim orbit. Video cameras are also installed on Fregat boosters to track the payload delivery into the designated orbit.

The Progress MS-09 resupply ship is scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan at 00-51 a.m. Moscow time on July 10. The spacecraft is expected to dock with the International Space Station at 04:39 a.m. Moscow time on the same day. The resupply ship will fly to the orbital outpost using the ultra-short scheme (two revolutions around the Earth). Progress carrier rockets earlier blasted off to the ISS either using a two-day scheme (34 revolutions around the planet) or flew to the orbital outpost in six hours (four rotations).