Russia’s space agency Roscosmos announced that their Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan sustained damage following a joint launch with the United States. The launch, carrying Russian and American astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), took place on Thursday and was part of the Soyuz MS-28 mission.
.@NASA astronaut @Astro_ChrisW and his two Roscosmos crewmates opened the Soyuz MS-28 hatch at 10:16am ET on Thanksgiving Day and joined Exp 73 crew. https://t.co/NQ7pUizkO2
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 27, 2025
The mission successfully launched from Baikonur at 12:28 pm Moscow time (09:27 GMT), with crew members including Russian astronauts Sergey Mikaev and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, alongside NASA astronaut Chris Williams. The spacecraft later docked with the ISS, and the crew reported being in good health.
However, post-launch inspections revealed damage to several elements of the launchpad. Roscosmos stated that an assessment of the launch complex was underway and assured that the necessary reserve elements were available to restore the site swiftly.
Contradicting official statements, Russian space bloggers have claimed the damage is more severe than publicly acknowledged. Russian rocket launch analyst Georgy Trishkin suggested that the service cabin had collapsed and parts of the structure had fallen on launchpad 31, potentially suspending operations at Baikonur for an extended period.
