Russia

Video: Russia Carries Out 59th Accident-Free Space Launch in Row, Sets New Post-Soviet Record

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has successfully launched the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with 36 UK OneWeb communication satellites from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, marking the 49th successful space launch in a row, which is a new record for the post-Soviet era.
Sputnik

The previous record of 58 successful launches in a row was set in February 1992-February 1993. The current series of successful launches started after October 2018.

The accident-free series began after the notable manned launch in October 2018, when the Soyuz MS-10 flight to the International Space Station was interrupted due to an accident during the separation of the Soyuz-FG rocket stages. Thanks to the emergency rescue system, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and American astronaut Nick Hague landed safely.

In the two and a half years that have passed since that emergency, Russia has carried out 27 successful space launches from Baikonur, 19 from Plesetsk, six from Vostochny and seven from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana. For comparison, during the same period, there were 18 emergency space launches in the world: eight in China, three in Iran, three in the United States, two in France and two in New Zealand.

The Soviet record of accident-free space launches is more impressive: 185 in a row between January 1983 and November 1984.

Discuss