NASA Responds to Russia Accidentally Blowing Up Its Only Astronaut Launch Facility

The launch pad of Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan sustained significant damage following a botched Soyuz launch last week.

While the Soyuz MS-28 crew on board the rocket, including cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev, as well as NASA astronaut Christopher Williams, safely made it to the International Space Station, the launch pad was heavily damaged in the process. Drone footage shows the platform’s mobile maintenance cabin lying upside down inside the flame trench, with experts telling NASASpaceflight that it could take months if not years to be repaired.

It’s a significant setback, because the damaged pad is Russia’s only certified launch site for crewed missions to space.

NASA has now acknowledged the incident. The space agency closely collaborates