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The train has arrived: Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle kit has arrived to Vostochniy cosmodrome


1greywind

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Planned launch date: 25.12.2015

ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ àà(launch vehicle test and assemble facility) is almost ready for beginning of Soyuz assembly:

xvostoch18092015_2.jpg.pagespeed.ic.UtVeziobhY.jpg

Launch pad and Mobile service tower also are on final stage of launch preparations:

ms3_7750-jpg.jpeg?time=

Soon we (as humanity) will have new place to launch things into Space.

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Distance from launch pad to closest buildings on surface is same as in Kourou and Baikonur. To scale: fire-pit is 200 meters wide, 250 meters long and 40 meters deep (same as on Baik and twice larger then on Kourou). MST is 50 meters high (slightly higher but much more massive than Kourou tower). The two unfinished (white-red) towers by the sides of launch pad are lightning deflectors and will be >100 meters high.

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If a rocket explodes on the pad, those buildings are still pretty close.

They do have relatively small windows for their size, so they're probably quite heavily reinforced to stand up to just that possibility.

If they can stand up to the blast of an exploding rocket from that distance, they would be good for taking shelter in should something go wrong during fueling (if that happens some time before launch, that is).

Just my "uneducated in Russian rocket launch procedures" opinion.

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Would like to draw your attention to the launch position.

It's on the same ground level with VAB.

So the carrier vehicle doesn't need to climb somewhere - rather than at in-game KSC, dangerously tilting the rocket.

Engine exhaust is evacuated using just a level difference between the launchpad and the ravine at its side.

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Well, one of the problems of real world KSC (after which ingame ksc is based upon) is that it's situated at sea level, only a few hundred meters from the shore. :) creating a deep trench for exhaust evacuation, making it watertight and maintaining it would be a huge pain in this kind of terrain :) russian launch complexes are situated deep inland - so it's much less a hassle to create those huge trenches :)

As for 'inclinated' rockets while climbing the pad, IRL crawlers are built to keep the platform horizontal, even when climbing the 5% grade access ramp :)

Edited by sgt_flyer
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Well, one of the problems of real world KSC (after which ingame ksc is based upon) is that it's situated at sea level, only a few hundred meters from the shore. :) creating a deep trench for exhaust evacuation, making it watertight and maintaining it would be a huge pain in this kind of terrain :) russian launch complexes are situated deep inland - so it's much less a hassle to create those huge trenches :)

As for 'inclinated' rockets while climbing the pad, IRL crawlers are built to keep the platform horizontal, even when climbing the 5% grade access ramp :)

The sweetest thing about Vostochny is that you don't even need any crawler-transporter or dedicated railway track and crane (like at Baikonur) to put the rocket to the launch pad.

The VAB itself is mobile (see these rail tracks beneath it?). They can assemble the rocket right at the launch pad, and then just move the VAB away. Or they can move the building with assembled rocket to the launch pad (I don't know the exact procedure).

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This big building is not a VAB :) it's a mobile service tower / and maybe a payload integration building, like in kourou :) you can even see the various railway tracks on the picture :) (1 set of tracks coming from behind the building, and continuing through it towards the pad, while there's two other sets of railway tracks coming from each side of the building)

In kourou and baikonour, the rocket is assembled horizontally - with the payload + fairing on top at baikonour, and without the payload + fairing at kourou. It'll be the same at vostochny. (The needed structure is much less massive to make horizontal assembly than vertical - and it's how soyuz engineer crews are trained anyway)

Once assembled, a train moves the rocket horizontally towards the launch pad (in fact, in kourou, it goes through the service tower which has sets of doors on both ends) and the train put the rocket vertical, and lowers it inside the launch pad (the Iron tulip then closes down on the rocket to hold it vertical) - once the rocket is secured, the train leaves. In baikonour, the service tower is directly integrated into the launch pad, with those two gigantic arms closing down around the rocket to give the engineers access platforms for the final works & verifications. (As well as protecting the rocket from weather)

In kourou, once the rocket is vertical, they move the whole building (like they will here, the thing is rail mounted) over the launch pad, also protecting the rocket from the weather. (And i think they except more harsh weather conditions there than in baikonour, hence the whole building) - once the service tower is in place in kourou, they bring the payload + fairing and mate it on top of the rocket, then do the final works on the rocket. Once ready for launch (with good weather, etc) they move the service tower away from the pad :)

Edited by sgt_flyer
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(And i think they except more harsh weather conditions there than in baikonour, hence the whole building)

They have a bare tower and Plesetsk, and I can assure you the weather in Plesetsk is going to be worse than what you'd get in Vostochny or Baikonur. This new structure is mostly to protect the workers and generally make access easier, not to protect the rocket.

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@Kryten

Yes, but plesetsk was built in 1957 :) - and it was to serve as the ICBM R-7 semyorka launch base :)

All 4 plestesk R-7 launch pads were built in the early 1960s - so they include a rotating platform for orienting the rocket, like in baikonour. It's not really fair to compare cold war installations to newly built launch sites :)

@biohazard15

Here's a video for a kourou soyuz launch campaign :) vostochny will be using roughly the same integration concepts.

Edited by sgt_flyer
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  • 3 weeks later...

Train with Soyuz-2 stages spent almost 2 weeks waiting for stages storage facility to be prepared for train unloading operation:

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Such long time between train arrival to Uglegorsk railroad station (closest railroad station to Vostochniy) and unloading has triggered stream of wild speculation in press: some stated that gates in ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ was designed too small and train with containers can not enter building.

- - - Updated - - -

I must say, that ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ on Vostochiy is realy big. Pictures of ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ in ÃÅ¡ourou for comparation:

6b8e2ffc000a.jpg

2010-11-26-soyuz-1_lg.jpg

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You all might find this article interesting: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/536827.html

The article says that an official told TASS, a Russian state owned news agency, that the assembly building is too small and will not be able to stack the stages for the Soyuz 2.1a. It was apparently designed for a previous version and the building designs were never updated. If it is true, then it looks like they may not be able to launch the Soyuz from there before the end of the year.

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You all might find this article interesting: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/536827.html

The article says that an official told TASS, a Russian state owned news agency, that the assembly building is too small and will not be able to stack the stages for the Soyuz 2.1a. It was apparently designed for a previous version and the building designs were never updated. If it is true, then it looks like they may not be able to launch the Soyuz from there before the end of the year.

As you can see on pictures of ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ - there are more than enough room for work. Russian press is always happy to spread unconfirmed rumors.

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looking at image, remind me why agian are launches expensive. This looks like an average sized warehouse. Sorry its not really big. My last trip home they are building a warehouse on I10 that must be between five or ten acres (prolly going to be an amazon warehouse or something).

Edited by PB666
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looking at image, remind me why agian are launches expensive. This looks like an average sized warehouse. Sorry its not really big. My last trip home they are building a warehouse on I10 that must be between five or ten acres (prolly going to be an amazon warehouse or something).

Did you saw "biggest building in the World" or something like this in my post? It is big in comparison with that is reasonable minimum size (ÃÅ¡ourou Soyuz facility) and to ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ in Plesetsk. Whole complex consisting from ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ àÃÂ, ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ Úàø stage storage facility is big even in comparison with Baykonur infrastructure.

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As you can see on pictures of ÃÅ“ÃËœÃÅ¡ - there are more than enough room for work. Russian press is always happy to spread unconfirmed rumors.

Depend of what you want to build!

I suspect Russia of hidding something...

rxRwz6L.gif

:0.0:

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looking at image, remind me why agian are launches expensive. This looks like an average sized warehouse. Sorry its not really big.

That's like asking why rolexes are so expensive when they're sold in normal-sized shops.

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  • 5 months later...
On 9/25/2015 at 4:58 AM, biohazard15 said:

The sweetest thing about Vostochny is that you don't even need any crawler-transporter or dedicated railway track and crane (like at Baikonur) to put the rocket to the launch pad.

The VAB itself is mobile (see these rail tracks beneath it?). They can assemble the rocket right at the launch pad, and then just move the VAB away. Or they can move the building with assembled rocket to the launch pad (I don't know the exact procedure).

The only problem with mobile VABs like that is that you are at higher risk of destroying it during a launch failure, and that it offers a slower max. launch rate than using a crawler-transporter. Delta II used that configuration though.

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http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0372-blow-for-new-cosmodrome-as-officials-say-first-manned-launch-is-still-a-decade-away/

Apparently, the start of manned Soyuz missions from Votsonzny has been delayed to 2028.

You know, this is starting to look very reminiscent of the SLS program and it's delays and problems...

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  • 1 month later...
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