Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was damaged on Thursday following the launch of a manned Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station, the Roscosmos space agency said.
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Damage to a Russian launch site has stopped Moscow from sending people into space for the first time in over six decades, it has been reported.
Moscow’s space agency Roscosmos said that Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan had sustained damage during a launch on Thursday carrying Russian and American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).
But Russian space bloggers said the damage to Russia’s only launch site for crewed missions was more serious than authorities were claiming.
One expert, Vitaly Egorov, said if the damage is as suspected, Moscow will have lost the ability to launch people into space for the first time since it put the first human in orbit in 1961. Newsweek has contacted Roscosmos for comment.