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updated 10:20 AM UTC, Dec 13, 2023

Russia Installs External Video Camera On Soyuz Spacecraft For First Time

BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan), June 6. /TASS/. Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos installed external video cameras on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft for the first time to test the methods of visual control over the carrier rocket’s flight, Roscosmos said on Wednesday.

“During the launch on June 6, new methods were tested for the first time to exercise visual control of the space rocket’s flight. An additional external camera is 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,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

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

A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday.

The carrier rocket with the manned spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 2:12 p.m. Moscow time.

The manned spacecraft is carrying Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev (the Soyuz MS-09’s commander), NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and representative of the European Space Agency (ESA) Alexander Gerst.

The spacecraft’s launch was watched by Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin, ESA Director-General Johann-Dietrich Woerner, US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman and the world’s first woman-cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

The manned spacecraft subsequently entered the near-Earth orbit and started its autonomous flight to the orbital outpost, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos told TASS.

“The spacecraft separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket in the normal regime at the designated time,” Roscosmos said.

The manned Soyuz spacecraft will be performing its autonomous flight using a two-day scheme. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 2:21 p.m. Moscow time on June 8.

The new space expedition’s crew will stay for 187 days aboard the orbital output. Over this period, the crewmembers will be working with the Progress MS and US Dragon resupply ships, performing a program of applied researches and experiments and carrying out spacewalks (specifically, work outside the space station under the Russian program is scheduled for August 8).

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