Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Blazing a trail…of debris. Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft departs Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome, leaving in its wake launch pad damage.
(Image credit: Ivan Timoshenko/Roscosmos)

Following their launch on November 27 onboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft, cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, along with NASA astronaut Chris Williams, safely docked to the International Space Station.

But it turns out that there was more “blast” to their blastoff considering the impact on their departure point at Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome.

For more details, go to my new Space.com story – “Damaged launch pad: How long before Russia can send astronauts to the ISS again?” – at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/damaged-launch-pad-how-long-before-russia-can-send-astronauts-to-the-iss-again