Soyuz Mishap Cripples Russia's Only Crewed Launch Pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome

More worries for Putin the Terrible!

"... Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome includes an essential piece of equipment used to prepare the rockets for launch. Called the 8U216 Maintenance Cabin, it's a mobile metal platform designed to provide technicians with pre-launch access to the lower section of the rocket, including the first- and second-stage engines. When it has completed its job, the cabin is lowered into the blast deflection pit and slid sideways into a protective alcove sealed by a metal screen.

Normally, with the cabin safely tucked away, the exhaust from the rocket shoots by it harmlessly, but on the latest launch the cabin either broke loose from its mooring or was never properly locked down. As a result, the one million pounds of thrust from the Soyuz pulled the 144-tonne cabin out and tossed it into the blast pit 20 m (66 ft) below, where it was catastrophically damaged. ..."

Soyuz Launch Mishap Cripples Russia's Only Crewed Pad "Russia has suffered a major setback after the launch of its Soyuz MS-28 mission ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) caused severe damage to the country's only pad capable of handling crewed boosters."

MS-28 lifting off