Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft launch postponed seconds before takeoff
A scheduled launch of the Russian Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft to the International Space Station was aborted just seconds before liftoff due to a technical malfunction. The crew, comprising of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, American astronaut Tracy Dyson, and Belarusian spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, were evacuated safely from the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The cancellation marked a first in Russian manned spaceflight history, occurring during the countdown sequence.
The abort was triggered by an automatic system after a voltage drop in the chemical power source was detected, a problem described by the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov. The event took place on a significant date, as it was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. Vasilevskaya, poised to become the first Belarusian woman in space, was among the three selected from over 3,000 candidates for this mission.
The rescheduled launch has been tentatively set for March 23, though official confirmation from Roscosmos is awaited. If successful, the Soyuz will dock with the ISS's Prichal module. The mission includes a series of experiments, encompassing both research and educational objectives. The exact reasons for the power failure and the subsequent impact on the spacecraft's systems are still being evaluated by the respective space agencies involved.
