Soyuz

The 2019-12-18 Soyuz launch also carried an Italian radar reconnaissance satellite and the European exoplanet-hunting telescope CHEOPS.

ANGELS launched on an Arianespace Soyuz on 2019-12-18 as one of three cubesats on the mission.

A Soyuz rocket launched an Italian Earth observation satellite on 2019-12-18.

The 2019-12-18 launch marked the 23rd Soyuz mission for Arianespace from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

Kepler’s first service-grade satellites are slated to launch mid-2020 on a Soyuz rocket booked through Glavkosmos.

NASA is negotiating with the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos to obtain additional Soyuz seats for NASA astronauts after current Soyuz seat agreements expire in fall 2020.

Arianespace scheduled a Soyuz mission for 2019-12-17 carrying the Italian Cosmo-SkyMed second-generation radar satellite, the European Space Agency’s CHEOPS telescope, and three smallsat secondary payloads.

The IG report concluded that purchasing Soyuz seats made $187 million of Boeing's additional funding unnecessary.

NASA's purchases of Soyuz seats have been as high as $86 million per seat.

NASA has ongoing discussions with Roscosmos about acquiring additional Soyuz seats.

NASA is seeking an extension of the INKSNA waiver, but prepayment for Soyuz seats was determined not to be in the best interest of the U.S. Government.

NASA has not yet secured any Soyuz seats after the end of Chris Cassidy's mission in October 2020.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine formally requested two additional Soyuz seats in an Oct. 24 letter to Roscosmos.

The OIG report recommended that NASA extend the INKSNA waiver and consider prepaying for Soyuz seats before it expires.

Five days after NASA agreed to the additional payment, Boeing submitted a proposal to sell five Soyuz seats acquired from RSC Energia for $373.5 million.

The current Soyuz-5 design features an upgraded version of the RD-171 engine in its first stage.

Soyuz-5 is capable in its current design of placing five tons into geostationary transfer orbit.

Tentative flight tests for the heavy-lift rocket using six Soyuz-5 first-stage boosters are targeted for 2028.

Soyuz-5 will launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and from Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East.