Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 3, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 2, 2026
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Roscosmos has completed repairs on the Soyuz-capable launch Pad 31/6 at Baikonur, restoring Russia’s only operational platform for Soyuz crewed and Progress cargo missions. The first launch from the repaired pad is slated for March 22.
MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Russia's space agency said on Tuesday that repair work had been completed at a damaged section of a launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that is critical to Moscow's space programme, Russian state media reported.
The pad was badly damaged in November when a Russian Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board blasted off.
The RIA state news agency cited Roscosmos as saying that the first launch from the repaired pad was scheduled for March 22.
While Russia has other cosmodromes on its own territory and Baikonur has other launch sites, the damaged launch pad - number 31 - is the only one able to handle launches of the Soyuz rocket and crew capsule as well as the cargo-only Progress vehicle, which are crucial for the International Space Station.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
A section of launch pad 31 was badly damaged during a Soyuz MS-28 launch in November.
Launch pad 31 is the only pad at Baikonur that can handle launches for Soyuz rockets, crew capsules, and Progress cargo vehicles essential for ISS missions.
The first launch from the repaired pad is scheduled for March 22.
The Baikonur cosmodrome is operated by Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, though it is located in Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz MS-28 carried two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut.
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